Mysterious Child
by Gemini Star01
Summary: The DigiDestined rescue a strange little girl they meet in the park. She imediatly attaches herself to Kari, calling her 'mommy' and T.K. 'daddy! Who is she, and why is she there in the first place?A speacail treat! FINISHED!
1. Mommy

Disclaimer: What makes you think I own Digimon? If I did, this wouldn't be a fan site.  
  
Mysterious Child  
Chapter 1: Mommy  
  
The man ran down the hall, carrying a small girl in his arms. He ran, through laser blasts, attack fire, and gun shots. At one point a blast threatened to throw the girl from his arms, but he held her close and continued running.  
  
He ran into the room and slammed the silver door. He punched in a few codes on the panel and the door locked tight.  
  
The little girl in his arms looked around with big, scared eyes. She looked about five years old and had seen more terror and destruction than anyone should have at her age. In front of her was a tiny little machine with a small keyboard floating next to it. The machine, if you could call it that, was round, made of stone, and the middle glowed a gentle pinkish-white.  
  
The man, her uncle, put her on the floor and typed a few things in on the stone keyboard. A few pieces of Digicode flashed around the ring of the circle and the pinkish-white became glowing silver. He smiled.  
  
The door crashed forward in a small bludge from a great impact on the outside. The man looked back in fear, then ran to his niece. "Listen to me, Carie." he warned, pulling a piece of paper out of his jacket and pushing it into her hand. "Remember this picture? Find them. Find mommy and daddy."  
  
The door blew open. A humanoid Digimon stuck his head in, looked around, and pointed at the two. "There they are!" he shouted.  
  
The man picked the girl up. "Remember, find mommy and daddy!" he shouted, and threw her into the portal as hands grasped his arms and legs.  
  
As she pulled away from the scene, the girl watched in horror. Her uncle stabbed out with the small knife he'd managed to bring with him, but more and more black Digimon grabbed his arms and legs and neck, tackling him, dragging the man to the floor. Soon, all she could see of him was a single fighting hand, and after a moment, it went limp.  
  
The tears splashed down from her eyes as the scene vanished. "Uncle Tai!" she cried out, though he couldn't hear. "Please come back! Uncle!"  
  
"UNCLE!"  
  
Kari's eyes snapped open. She jolted straight up in fear, flinging her covers (and a sleeping Gatomon) to the ground. She gasped for a moment, face wet with sweat, hair clinging to her forehead. "Not...again..."  
  
Gatomon yawned, stretched, and leapt back up on the bed. "What happened?" she yawned sleepily.  
  
Kari sighed and shook her head. "Nothing, Gatomon." she sighed, looking at her friend. "Just a dream..."  
  
~ * ~ * ~  
  
"Pass it, Agumon!"  
  
The small, orange dinosaur kicked the ball as hard as he could to his human partner. Tai hit it with his head, then kicked it into the goal, flying past Sora's hands as she leapt to stop it. "Score!" he cheered.  
  
Sora picked herself up off the ground. "Okay, okay, you win." she sighed, brushing the grass and dust off her jeans as Tai, Davis, Matt, Veemon, Agumon, and Gabumon started giving each other big high-fives. "Can we eat now?"  
  
"Good idea." T.K. sighed, straightening his hat and pointing. "Come on, Kari and Izzy have got it all set up."  
  
Soon, all the DigiDestined but Joe (med school) were gathered around the picnic table, eating, and talking between themselves. T.K. swallowed a bite of hamburger and looked around. They'd been having these picnics off and on for about two years, ever since the battle with MaloMyotismon. Off course, they'd all changed a whole lot since then.  
  
Now fourteen, T.K. had added about a foot to his height, and he was now just about 6 foot 3 and star of the basketball team. Davis somehow or another was now captain of the local soccer team, still with his insane little dream of opening a noodle cart. Cody had a growth spurt and was now about the size of Kari or Davis. Yolei and Ken had been going out for a year and a half now. Matt's band had finally cut a CD. Mimi had moved back to Odiva with the others. Sora was president of the sewing club at school. Izzy had returned to his old title of class genius. Tai had actually decided to be serious about school rather than soccer, and his sister Kari was head of the photography club at the Jr. High level.  
  
T.K. glanced over at Kari, realizing she was being quieter than usual. "Hey Kari." he called. "What's up? Something wrong?"  
  
Kari looked up from where she had been staring into her sandwich. "Oh! Um... nothing. Nothing's wrong."  
  
She went back to staring into the sandwich as she ate. T.K. gave her a worried look, then turned back to his burger.  
  
Yolei took a bite of her sandwich, chewed for a moment, then perked up her ears in surprise. She swallowed. "Do you here that?"  
  
Izzy's ears were next. He lifted his head up to gaze at horizon. "Sounds like a..."  
  
"GRRRROAR!"  
  
The kid's heads snapped up in extreme surprise as they saw a very strange sight. A giant, green Digimon, a Snimon, with his huge scythes bared and the eyes glowing red, was chasing after a tiny little girl. She looked about five years old, with short brown hair, pale skin, and crystal blue eyes that were now filled with tears of panic. She wore a pale purple shirt with a pink star on it, yellow shorts, and a yellow back pack which was slung around her back. Currently, she was screaming her head off.  
  
"Holy cow!" Matt cried as the DigiDestined scrambled to their feet.  
  
"We gotta help her!" Biomon squawked.  
  
"Then let's do it already!" Davis shouted.  
  
As this went on, the girl tripped over a rock and went crashing to the ground in front of Snimon. The tears flowed more freely down her cheeks as she looked up at the huge Digimon looming over her. "Come 'er, ya little pipsqueak." Snimon laughed, reaching for her.  
  
"Spiral Twister!"  
  
"Boom Bubble!"  
  
"Pepper Breath!"  
  
The blasts of energy hit Snimon back. The Rookie Digimon landed and faced him. The kids were gathered around the little girl. "Leave this kid alone, you big bully!" Kari shouted.  
  
"Go back where you came from!" Tai cried.  
  
Snimon began to loom for the child again. "I must bring her back to my master!"  
  
The little girl burst into tears again. Sora gently tried to comfort her. "What kind of Digimon are you? You can't attack a helpless little kid!" Mimi snapped angrily.  
  
"I must...My master has ordered me to retrieve her." Snimon took a step forward, looking as though he was about to lunge for the child.  
  
"He's so intent on getting the poor thing." Sora whispered, pulling the crying child behind her.  
  
"Poison Ivy!"  
  
"I wonder why he wants her so bad..." Izzy muttered.  
  
"Sticky Net!"  
  
"If we want to save her, we'll have to..." Cody let it hang.  
  
"Then let's do it." Tai growled.  
  
"Pepper Breath!"  
  
"Blue Blaster!"  
  
"Spiral Twister!"  
  
"Super Shocker!"  
  
"Cat's Eye Hypnotism!"  
  
"Boom Bubble!"  
  
"Hawk Beam!"  
  
The fury off attacks smashed into Snimon, throwing him back. With a final, desperate cry of "master..." the evil Digimon disappeared.  
  
The kids sighed. Most of them sat down on the grass with their partners. Sora, Mimi and Yolei were kneeling by the little girl, trying to calm her down. "There there now." Yolei soothed. "It's all over. He's gone now."  
  
The girl sniffed and slowly stopped crying, looking up at the two with huge, scared eyes. Mimi smiled at her. "What a sweetie." she cooed.  
  
"We have to find her parents." Ken pointed out.  
  
"Right." Sora nodded. She turned to the girl. "Do you know where your mommy is?"  
  
The girl sniffed, glanced quickly at a single piece of paper clutched in her hand, then nodded fearfully "You know where she is?" Yolei asked, and the girl nodded again. "Is she near-by?"  
  
The girl pointed behind them with one shaking finger. "She right over dere." she whispered.  
  
The kids followed her finger and realized she was pointing at Kari. "Me?!" Kari cried. "Um...no. I think you have me confused with someone..."  
  
The girl ran to where Kari was sitting on the ground, a smile flooding her face. "Silly mommy." she laughed. "You look like picture-mommy. You must be mommy." she grinned again, then buried her face into Kari's shirt. "Me missed you, mommy."  
  
Kari looked down at her in surprise. Then she looked at the others, and a look of surprise was on their faces, too. "M-m-mommy?" Tai gaped.  
  
"I don't know what she's talking about!" Kari shouted franticly.  
  
T.K. knelt beside her. "She does look a lot like you, Kari." he said. "It's possible she's got you confused with her real mother..."  
  
At that moment, the little girl looked up. She cocked her head curiously when she saw T.K. and glanced quickly back at her piece of paper.  
  
Another smile spread across her face. "Daddy!" she cried, and leapt at T.K. He caught her out of pure instinct and she wrapped her little arms around his neck, knocking his hat to the ground behind him.  
  
Yolei looked like she was about to faint and Ken steadied her by the shoulder. Davis was turning slightly red in the face. Everyone else had forgotten how to work their mouths, which were hanging open at their own whim.  
  
The piece of paper the girl had been holding was released from her hands and fluttered calmly to the ground. Izzy bent down and picked it up. Then his face contracted in a new emotion of surprise. "Guys, look at this!"  
  
The others, except T.K. and Kari, who were still down on the ground with the mysterious little girl, crowded around his shoulders to look. "It's T.K. and Kari." Cody whispered. "At least, it looks like T.K. and Kari."  
  
"Look at the date!" Izzy jabbed his finger at the bottom-right hand corner of the picture. "This was taken exactly one year from now!"  
  
There was a silence, the Davis said. "Somebody's camera was messed up." he said.  
  
"Strange..." Izzy muttered. "This is defiantly a high-quality color photo. But it's old."  
  
"What do you mean 'old'?" asked Mimi, still a little confused.  
  
"I mean, the paper is worn. It's yellowed and fragile." Izzy carefully examined the paper the picture was printed on carefully. "Yep. This picture is at least fifteen years old. But they didn't have picture quality like this until a couple of years ago..."  
  
"So how it the world could it be that old?"  
  
"I'm not sure..." muttered Izzy incoherently. "But something's bothering me...I wonder..."  
  
He bent down and tapped the little girl on the shoulder. "What's your name?" he asked.  
  
"Carie, Mr. Izumi." the girl whispered. "You knew that."  
  
"She knew my name." Izzy muttered, slightly surprised, "Carie, besides um...'mommy and daddy' do you recognize anyone else?" The girl nodded. "Who?"  
  
Carie lifted a hand and pointed to Tai. "Uncle Tai." she muttered, then moved to the others. "Uncle Matt...Auntie S-Sora...Mr. Ichijo...M-M-Mr. Hida...Mr. Mo...Mo...Motamiya...a-an Mrs. Ichijo." she finished, pointing at Yolei, who immediately turned pink at being called 'Mrs. Ichijogi'.  
  
"She got it all right." Cody said in aw.  
  
"Except for Yolei." Sora pointed out. "What does that mean?"  
  
Carie went back to snuggling into Kari's lap. Izzy looked at the picture, then at T.K. and Kari, then at the little girl. He looked at Kari again, then Carie, then T.K., and then one last time at Carie. "No... That's crazy" he whispered.  
  
"What's crazy?" Tai asked.  
  
Izzy turned to the others. "Have you noticed that this girl...Carie...looks almost just like Kari?"  
  
"Yeah." Davis shrugged. "So what?"  
  
"And her eyes." Izzy continued slowly. "Look like T.K.'s?"  
  
"The idea did come to me, yes." Cody agreed. "But what are you saying, Izzy?"  
  
"I was just thinking." the red-haired brain said slowly. "That maybe...just maybe...the date on this picture is right. And that would mean..."  
  
"Wait." Matt held his hand out. "For that picture's date to be right, this kid would have to come..."  
  
"From the future." Yolei said, slowly understanding, then she made a half-surprised, half-laughing face. "Izzy, that is so B-Movie"  
  
"But if she was from the future..." Sora said slowly. "That would explain why the picture's so old-looking..."  
  
"Which means..." Mimi finally got what Izzy was trying to say an squealed with excitement. "She might really be T.K. and Kari's daughter!"  
  
The was a moment of stunned silence, then the rage of a huge "WHAT?!?" rang through the DigiDestined.  
  
"T.K. and Kari's what?!" Tai and Matt cried at the same time, turning blue in the face.  
  
"NO WAY!!" Davis shouted.  
  
T.K. and Kari were both deep red, and Kari looked as though she was about to faint. Carie, on the other hand, noticed none of this and was currently curled up in Kari's lap, giggling to herself.  
  
Izzy waved his hands around. "Now now, just calm down!" he shouted. "It was just a crazy idea. I don't even think it's possible. Not really..."  
  
Kari looked down at the little girl. "But whoever she is, now what do we do with her?" she asked.  
  
"We could take her down to the police office and see if anyone's reported a missing..." Cody began, but the little girl screamed.  
  
"NO NO NO NO NO!" she shouted, suddenly awake. "Stay with mommy! Me stay here! Stay with mommy! Stay! Stay! Stay!"  
  
"Okay okay." Sora soothed. "Maybe I should just go. I'll call you and report what I find at the police office."  
  
She turned and began to leave. "What do we do 'til then?" T.K. called after her.  
  
Sora grinned over her shoulder. "It's your kid. You handle it."  
  
T.K. and Kari looked at each other, turning red, then at the little girl once again snuggled into Kari's lap. Whatever they had been expecting to happen, this definitely wasn't it.  
  
  
  
Lookie! A review button! Seams a shame not to press it, don't you think? 


	2. A Middsummer's Night Dream

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Hiya people! I'm glad everyone likes this. To answer some of your questions…I have no idea who Sora married. I just threw that in 'cause we all know she married ONE of them. And the fact that Carie didn't recognize Mimi…My goof. I added Mimi in after I finished writing the whole chapter, mainly because I thought she'd be more of the type to shriek about 'T.K. and Kari's daughter' than Sora or Yolei. And yes, I base quite a few of my fics on the Manga version of 'Sailor Moon'. Note that I say 'Manga' because I happen to prefer it. And I just realized…Carie does act like Suzie, doesn't she? I didn't mean to do that, but that's how the cookie crumbles.

However, the comment on 'The Tenchi Movie' went right over my head, 'cause as much as I like Tenchi Muyo, we have zippo in the anime department here in Middle-O-Nowhere, Texas. Someone wanna explain this?

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Disclaimer: Who does own Digimon? Nobody I know.

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Mysterious Child

Chapter 2: A Midsummer's Night Dream

"Uh…Mom, we're home!" Tai called.

"Oh hi kids!" Mrs. Kamiya said from the couch. "How was the picnic?"

"F-fine." Tai and Kari laughed nervously. Agumon and Gatomon smiled in front of them. Kari kept her hand clamped tightly around Carie's mouth, hiding the little girl behind her.

"That's nice." their mother laughed. "Was everyone there?" 

"Yeah." Kari laughed. "Everyone was there." She began nervously edging towards her room, pushing Carie in front of her.

"Wait." the mom said. "Don't you wanna sit and talk about it?"

"N-No thanks, mom." Tai stuttered.

"We're beat." put in Kari nervously.

"Y-Yeah! Really tired…" Tai pretended to stifle a yawn. 

"I think we'll just go to bed right now." Kari was almost to their rooms.

"See you in the morning!" With the slam of a door, they were all gone.

Kari sighed with relief. "This could be harder than I thought." she huffed as Carie ran forward, leapt onto her bed and started bouncing up and down.

"No kidding." Tai gasped, swallowing nervously. "She's so hyper, this could be harder than when we had to hide the Digimon."

Kari went to the bed. "Hey now, stop that." she said, catching Carie in mid-air. "You'll break it."

She put Carie back on the bed, and the girl immediately rolled over on her back like a cat and laughed. "Dat was fun." she giggled in her childish, five-year-old way. "Let's do it again."

"Oh no." Kari warned. "We had to sneak you in. If mom finds you here, we are in deep, deep trouble."

The girl made a bit of a pouting face, but said "Okay."

The phone rang in the hall. "I'll get it!" Tai shouted, then whispered. "Make sure mom doesn't see her through the door."

Kari nodded and tried to get Carie interested in a set of building blocks. Tai ran out into the hall and grabbed the phone on its third ring. "Hello, this is Tai." he said, quickly and out of breath, glancing nervously towards the room his parents were in.

"Tai, it's Sora."

"Sora! Oh good…" he dropped his voice down to an under-tone. "Was there anything in the police reports?"

"No. Nothing." Sora sighed. "I looked through every missing persons article twice. Nothing reporting a five-year-old at all, let alone a girl with brown hair and blue eyes."

Tai groaned. "Great. Just perfect."

"Maybe she just got lost this morning, Tai, and her parents don't know to look yet. How about we check tomorrow? There should be something then."

"And what do we do until that particular time?" Tai asked. "No wait, don't tell me. I know."

He knew Sora would be grinning on the other end of the phone. "Hope the kid can stomach your mom's meatloaf."

~ * ~ * ~

Kari awoke late at night to an unfamiliar tugging at her wrist. She opened one eye to find Carie crouching over her, a scared, teary look on her face.

"What's the matter?" Kari asked, leaning up on her elbow. "Is something wrong?"

"I had a bad dream." Carie sniffed.

Kari sighed slightly, then lifted the edge of he covers. "You wanna crawl in and tell me about it?"

Carie slid in under the blankets and curled up next to her. Kari let the blankets fall around the child's body. "What was it about?" she asked. "Your dream, I mean."

Carie sniffed and looked up at her. "It was about two years ago, mamma." she whispered.

"What happened?" Kari asked, growing both curious and worried. "What happened two years ago?"

Carie closed her eyes. "Dat not important, mommy. I don't wanna talk about it…You know I hate talking about things like dat." She yawned and snuggled down into the sheets. "Night night, mommy." she muttered, and instantly dropped off.

Kari wrapped her arms around the little girl and pulled her close. _"What is it about her?" _she thought longingly, looking at the child. _"What if Izzy's 'crazy idea' is right? What if she is…my daughter…?"_ she smiled slightly, suppressing a giggle and beginning to drop off. _"My daughter…My…baby…That's like a…dream…"_

She fell asleep, Carie's head resting gently on her chest, her dreams no longer troubled by memories. But Kari, however, was a slightly different story.

It was as if Carie's nightmare was now her own. Kari saw herself, about fifteen years older, holding the tiny three-year-old Carie. They were running though alleys and streets, with loud explosions and attack blasts. The girl was shaking in the woman's arms.

They ran, Gatomon following with a strange little ball of orange fur clamped in her mouth. They seamed to be dodging around through back allies to avoid…something…

They came to the edge of the silver, metallic area they had been in. A man stood there, weary, with kinda-short, spiky hair, by a line of pods. As Kari reached him, the house they had been in seconds before exploded.

Kari stopped and looked at the horrible mushroom cloud. "No, T.K.!" she shouted, tears pricking in the back of her eyes.

The man touched her shoulder. "Kari…"

The woman turned and shoved the girl she'd been carrying into the man's arms. "Take her, Tai." she gasped. "Take her and get as far out of the city as possible. T.K. and I will meet up with you…someday."

She turned and began to run back in the direction of the fading cloud. Gatomon dropped the orange ball next to Tai's feet and ran after her. "Kari, don't!" Tai cried to his sister.

"Take her away from here!" Kari shouted, then disappeared into the smoke.

Tai stared after her for a moment, then loaded Carie into one of the pods. The girl looked up at him fearfully, with big, blue eyes. "Uncue Tai, what going on?"

"Sh." Tai soothed, handing her the little orange ball and climbing in after her. "It'll be okay."

He closed the lid and strapped Carie into the seat behind him. He pressed a few buttons and muttered to himself. "Coordinates set for Base Epsilon Zeta. Launch in five… four…three…two…one…"

The pod blasted out over the barren landscape and curved away wildly. Carie pulled herself up in her chair and looked out the back window as the place that had been her home slowly faded away…

Kari's eyes flew open with a gasp. After breathing hard for a moment, she gazed down at the girl lying asleep next to her, smiling in her dreams. _"Did she really live through that?"_ she thought. _"How? And…what happened to us?"_

~ * ~ * ~

They had another DigiDestined meeting the next day. This one was in T.K.'s room, because his mom would be out all day.

The minute T.K. opened the door to let Kari and Tai in, he was greeted by Carie's smiling face. "Hi daddy!" she laughed, then hugged him around the legs.

T.K. looked down at her, then up at Kari helplessly. "Pick her up." Kari prompted in a giggling whisper.

T.K. reached down and picked the girl up. Trying to remember home ec, he switched her over onto one arm and supported her with the other. Carie laughed. "Daddy silly." she giggled, then stood on his arm and hugged T.K. around the neck.

T.K. turned red as Kari giggled and Tai hid snickers behind his hand. "Um…come on." he muttered. "The others are already here."

No matter how hard T.K. tried, Carie did not release from his neck. He turned a deeper shade of red as he walked in with the little girl still clamped around him to a furry of giggles from Yolei, Mimi and Sora, and a small group of snickers-behind-hands from most of the guys, save Izzy and Joe. "You're not helping…" he murmured in embarrassment, then sat down on his bed.

Carie finally detached from him and slid down to the floor, giggling her head off and absolutely fascinated by the soft, squishy Poromon. "Funny birdie ball." she giggled as he wandered off into the air, then came crashing playfully back into her.

Yolei laughed. "You're good with kids, Poromon."

"When you're as small as I am, you have to be." he groaned, starting to see stars.

Matt looked up. "So, what do we do now?"

"I say we call the police again." Izzy said, leaning back in his chair. "And see if anyone's reported her missing."

"There won't be." Kari whispered. "There will never be."

Everyone stared at her. "Kari, are you…" Tai began, but Kari interrupted.

"No. I know it's true." Kari muttered. "I feel it…Izzy's theory was right. She's not from our time. She's from the future…"

"No way." Davis objected, standing. "It's impossible."

"In our time, yes." Kari muttered. "But it might not be in hers…"

There was a silence. Sora looked at Carie, then at Kari. "You're dead serious about this, aren't you?" she asked quietly.

Kari nodded, looking down at Carie. "She…we…had a dream last night…"

"What'd you mean…we?" Matt asked.

Kari looked up. "First…First she woke up with a nightmare. She wouldn't tell me about it, nothing, save that it was about 'two years ago'. Then she fell back asleep… and I had the dream." Kari looked at the small child and shivered with the remembrance of the night before. "It was too real to be…just a dream…"

Izzy looked at her a nodded slowly. He turned to his computer. "I think I'll go to the Digital World." he muttered, bringing up the DigiPort. "I have something I need to refer to with Gennai."

He turned back. Davis held up the blue D3. "I'll go too." he said.

"Us too." Yolei said, and almost everyone stood up, raising their Digivices.

Suddenly, Carie started screaming her head off.

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If any of you folks have intrest in finding out what I'm planning for this and my other stories, I got some nice little summeries in my profile. Go look, okay?


	3. Gatamon

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Unfortunately, I was not able to finish this when I wanted to (Thursday) because I got a pretty bad chest cold and couldn't even get out of bed, let alone make it downstairs to the computer room. But, after an extensive rest and several doses of cherry shoe polish cough syrup, I'm back with this most sought-after chapter. And I apologize for the lack of 'new Digimon' creativity that one person asked for. It's just that when I came up with this idea in my mind, LadyDevimon and Phantomon (later Chapter) were the first things that came to mind, and now the story just doesn't seam right without them.

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Disclaimer: How many times do I have to say it? DIGIMON IS NOT MINE! Get over it.

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Mysterious Child

Chapter 3: Gatamon

"NO NO NO NO NO!" Carie screamed at the top of her lungs.

Instantly, everyone's minds started panicking, but they forced themselves to remain calm. "Carie, what's wrong?" Kari asked. "Is something…"

Carie pointed at the DigiPort on the computer screen. "NO NO NO NO NO!" she shouted again, and this time she stood up. "No go to D-World! D-World bad! No Go!"

"Dee-World?" Davis asked questioningly.

"I think she means the Digital World." Izzy told him. He sat down, eye-level with the girl. "Carie, why can't we go to um…D-World?"

"D-World bad place!" Carie cried. "Bad Things come from dere! Bad bad bad bad things!" she looked around at the hypnotized group of older kids, eyes flashing almost dangerously. "D-World take mommy and daddy 'way. D-World take 'way Uncle Tai. D-World make every one go 'way! D-World bad bad bad BAD!"

She whimpered a bit and tears started appearing again. "D-World bad…" she murmured. "Bad bad bad…."

Kari knelt down and hugged the little girl. "I'm sorry." she whispered, then looked up at the others. "Maybe we shouldn't go. I don't think it'll go over well…"

The others nodded. "Then meeting adjourned." Tai said, standing up. "We'll figure out how to work this later."

Kari picked Carie up. She looked at the little girl, then at T.K., then at the DigiPort. The same question as the night before rang in her mind. _"What happened to the world? What happened to us? What happened?"_

~ * ~ * ~

_"YOU FOOL!"_

DemiDevimon was blown back. He straightened up and bowed. "I apologize, Lord Daemon." he said. "I…"

_"I DON'T WANT YOUR SNIFFLING EXCUSES!"_ his master boomed. _"I WANT THAT LITTLE BRAT BACK, AND I WANT HER BACK NOW!"_

DemiDevimon cowered. A tall, strong figure appeared behind him in the darkness. "May I make a suggestion, master?"

"What is it, LadyDevimon?" Daemon asked, much more gently.

The evil female Digimon held up a small, tiny little cage. A small, tiny little shaking ball was curled inside. Daemon smiled. "Ah…perfect…"

~ * ~ * ~

Something sent the DigiDestined to the park. Not all of them, but Izzy, Tai, Kari, Yolei and T.K. went for some reason. It went something like Carie wanted to go to the park, Kari agreed to take her, Carie wanted T.K. to go with them, Tai went to watch, Yolei loved to see little kids at play, and Izzy wanted to keep an eye on Carie. So, they went to the park.

Carie immediately ran forward and leapt onto the tire swing. It went back and forth, back and forth, then slowed to a stop. Carie giggled. "Daddy." she said in a sing-songy voice as it turned slightly around in a stationary circle. "Can oo come gimme a push?"

T.K. glanced uncertainly at Kari, who nodded. He came to the tire and picked it up, then gave it a gentle push forward. Carie went flying, giggling more and more, arms spread out and turning like she was pretending to fly.

After a moment of this, she stopped and dropped down through the hole in the tire. Then she crawled out, stood up, and brushed herself off. "Now let's try the jumble gym!" she laughed, and ran off towards the monkey bars.

T.K. sighed and sat down next to Kari on the grass. "Oh brother." he muttered. "She's a ball of fire."

"She's a kid, T.K." Yolei laughed. "Little kids are like that."

Carie was now running up the side of the slide, then sliding down, giggling. Kari smiled. "She's so sweet."

Carie landed on the ground and laughed once more, scattering sand everywhere. Then she stopped and looked up at the sky. She leapt to her feet and ran to Kari. "Momma!" she shouted, panicking.

Kari and the others scrambled to their feet. "What's wrong?" Izzy asked.

Carie hid behind Kari's legs and pointed at the sky. A crowd of bats was coming closer, coming together, and becoming an evil-looking, woman-shaped Digimon. "LadyDevimon!" Yolei shouted.

The evil Digimon laughed. "Hello, little girl." she hissed at Carie, who hid behind Kari again.

Kari crouched down and let the girl duck into her arms. She glared up at LadyDevimon. "Leave her alone, you big bully!" she shouted. "You should be ashamed, chasing after a helpless little girl!"

LadyDevimon laughed. "I'm afraid I can't leave, child." she said menacingly. "You see, my master, the Lord Daemon, dearly wishes this girl returned to him. And your future ruler does not like to be kept waiting."

_"Daemon?!" _Tai cried.

"Yeah. Daemon." LadyDevimon snapped. "And the girl is coming with me. Or I may just have to dispose of a little friend of hers."

She held up a tiny, black, steel cage. Inside was a tiny, quivering orange cat, the same color as Patamon, with big, blue eyes.

Carie's eyes widened. "Gatamon!" she shouted, standing up, just for a moment. "Don't hurt her!"

Kari looked at her. "Gatamon?" she asked.

Carie looked up with tearing eyes. "Gatamon." she sniffed, pointing at the cage. "She's my best fweind. We've been togeder since we was babies…"

Tentomon took a closer look. "I know her." he buzzed. "Gatamon is a cat-like Digimon, like Gatomon but very rare. This tiny orange type only appears every now and then."

T.K. looked at the quivering child, then at Patamon. "Ready?"

"Let's do it." Patamon growled.

Patamon, Digivolve to…Angemon!

Angemon flew forward. "Hand of Fate!" he shouted, firing the golden blast from his right hand.

Kari looked down. "Gatomon, you're next."

The cat-like Digimon nodded, then Digivolved to Angewomon. She fired a silver arrow at LadyDevimon. "Take that!"

LadyDevimon moved back to avoid the blast, but when she did so she dropped the cage holding Gatamon. It fell to the ground and burst open, freeing the little orange cat. "Carie!" it shouted, running for the small girl.

LadyDevimon righted herself. "Why you…" she growled, then looked at Carie and Kari. "Let's see you stop this! Darkness Poison!"

The beam of black energy flew at the two girls. Kari crouched down and covered Carie from the blast. The others were too far away to help. "Kari!" Tai shouted.

Gatamon ran forward, leaping up. "Carie!"

Carie closed her eyes and screamed. "Gatamon!"

There was a flash of light from Carie's bag. Out fell something that looked sort've like a pure white D-3, but the light emitting from it was too bright to see. It covered everything, but seamed to focus on Gatamon. Then something no one ever expected happened…

Gatamon, Digivolve to…Holymon!

Before them was a beautiful angel Digimon, with long, golden hair the same color as Gatamon's fur, long robes of pale lilac and pure white, and a beautiful, gentle figure. Her eyes were covered by a silver shield-like helmet with a crescent moon on it. Her features were not as developed as Angewomon's. In truth, she looked more like a child than either of the other Digimon, but she was still an amazing site as she blocked the two girls from the dark attack.

"Woah." Agumon whispered.

"That's Holymon." Tentomon buzzed. "She's one of the Angel Digimon, like Angemon and Angewomon. She uses the power of moonlight against the dark creatures."

Tai brushed his hair back. "That little Gatamon must have Digivolved." he muttered.

"That synchs it." Izzy said, snapping his fingers. "Carie must be a DigiDestined, and Holymon's her Digimon partner."

Kari and T.K. both gaped. "That's amazing." T.K. whispered.

"She's beautiful." Kari said next to him.

Carie didn't seam so happy. She was clutching the white device to her chest and looked like she was going to cry. "Gatamon, how could you?" she sobbed, but no one heard her.

Holymon flew up, between Angemon and Angewomon. "Need some help?" she giggled.

Angewomon couldn't help but smile. There was a sort of charm around this new Digimon, something even a serious battle couldn't stop.

LadyDevimon gave a low chuckle. "You think this…this _child_ can help you against me?"

Holymon's eyes narrowed. Without a word, she flattened her hand out and pointed the palm at LadyDevimon. A small, lilac crescent moon tattoo was in the palm that now faced LadyDevimon. "Crescent Blast!" was shouted, and a moon-shaped beam of white energy blasted from the moon.

The beam struck LadyDevimon between the eyes. The evil Digimon was flabbergasted, unable to speak, as the beam spread over her body. Just as the light got too bright to bear, she gave one final cry: _"Lord Daemon…forgive me…" _before the light cleared, and LadyDevimon was no more.

Gatamon returned to her Rookie form, the tiny orange cat. Gatomon and Patamon were right next to her. "Wow." whispered Kari in awe. "One hit, she took out an Ultimate."

Carie sniffed and buried her face in Kari's shirt, clinging to the older girl's arms. Kari and the others were busy congratulating the Digimon. Gatamon leapt over to Carie and stood by her feet, looking up at her partner. "Carie…Is something wrong?"

The girl looked at her partner, then turned away. "Carie…cheer up!" Gatamon rubbed up against the back of her partner's knees. "We beat 'er! She's gone! We won!"

"_NO_, GATAMON!" shouted Carie, sitting up angrily, splashing her partner with tears and yelling loud enough that everyone turned and stared at her. "NO NO _NO!"_

Kari stared her. "Carie-" she began, but the girl wasn't listening.

"No more fighting!" Carie shouted at Gatamon, big, wet tears splashing down from her eyes. "You _know_ what fighting do! Evwe time we fight, someone goes 'way! First Mr. Ichijo, then Uncle Matt, then Mr. Hida…Everyone go 'way!"

"B-But Carie…" Gatamon started.

"NO MORE FIGHTING!" screamed the child again, shaking slightly.

The group of kids stared at her in shock. Carie's bottom lip trembled a bit, then she threw herself at Kari and sobbed. Kari sat stunned for a moment, then pulled the girl in tightly and hugged her.

Izzy sighed and shook his head. "This has just gotten a lot more complicated." he muttered under his breath.


	4. Hope's Dream

__

I don't own Digimon. That not good enough for ya? Too bad.

****

Mysterious Child

Chapter 4: Hope's Dream

"Stay at my house?"

Kari nodded. It was late afternoon, two days later. The sun was setting, and Carie had long since gotten over her mess with Gatamon. She and the Digimon were sitting on the bench between Kari and T.K., while Kari persuaded T.K. to take care of Carie for the evening.

"I still don't get…why…" T.K. started, but Kari interrupted him.

"It'll be easier for you to sneak her in than me and Tai." she explained as her bus came closer to the curb. "You're mom comes home late, and she doesn't always check in on you at night."

T.K. looked down at Carie, who was holding onto his hand with both of hers. Kari patted her on the head, then stood. "Just relax." she told T.K., winking as she and Gatomon climbed onto the bus. "She's not too much trouble."

The door closed and the bus left. T.K. sighed and looked down at Carie. She looked back up at him with big eyes. "Daddy?" she asked. "Mommy is coming back, right?"

T.K. smiled. "Of course." he said, standing. "She'll be back tomorrow. Now come on, let's go home."

They began to walk towards T.K.'s apartment, then Carie tugged at his hand. He glanced down again. "Something wrong?"

"No." she was grinning broadly. "I was just wonderin'…Daddy, will oo gimme a piggy-back wide?"

__

~ * ~ * ~

__

"WHAT?!" screamed Lord Daemon in outrage, and DemiDevimon, was thrown back once again. _"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, LADYDEVIMON HAS BEEN DEFEATED?!"_

_Oh sure, kill the messenger… _DemiDevimon righted himself and coughed. "My greatest apologies, my lord, for having to present this news." he said as stiffly as he could. "LadyDevimon has been beaten by the DigiDestined children in the past. The girl you are after seams to have made her Digimon Digivolve, and she was no…"

_"BE QUIET, BAT!"_ shouted Daemon again, and the beast fell silent.

Daemon mussed to himself. "How? How could those…those children…beat LadyDevimon, my strongest warrior? How is that she fell so easily…"

"My Lord." came a voice from in front of him. Daemon looked up to find Phantomon, his loyal servant, hovering just above him.

Phantomon bowed. "Send me, my Lord. I will retrieve the girl you seek, and avenge our fighters that have fallen to these DigiDestined. This I swear."

Daemon grinned. "Very well, Phantomon." he hissed. "But don't you dare to disappoint me."

~ * ~ * ~

"Here we are." sighed T.K., opening the door to his apartment. "Home Sweet Home."

He set Carie down on the floor. She looked around. "This don't look like mama's house" She looked up at him curiously. "Where is mama gone to?"

T.K. sighed. "Your…'mama'…she lives with her brother and folks. We'll see her tomorrow."

He sat down on the couch. He wasn't sure exactly why, but he couldn't think of anything else to do now. His mom wouldn't be home for a couple of hours, and keeping a little kid here…having her call him 'Daddy'…the whole situation was just very awkward.

Carie crawled up next to him and rocked back and forth on the edge of the seat. Obviously, at this point, the situation was awkward for her too. T.K. leaned forward and grabbed the remote from the couch arm. Maybe some cartoons would make the whole place a little more comfortable.

When the TV clicked on, Carie's first reaction was to back away and Gatamon leapt up in surprise, landing on Patamon. A minute later, Carie approached the machine in curiosity and touched the screen. Then she and Gatamon pressed their faces against the glowing screen. "Hey there." T.K. warned, picking her up around the waist and setting her down a few feet back. "You'll hurt your eyes."

Carie looked up at him. "How come the people are stuck in da box?" she asked curiously. "Have dey been bad?"

It took T.K. a few moments to understand, but finally he said it. "You've… You've never seen a TV before, have you?"

The girl shook her head. T.K. sighed and turned the thing off. Then he looked down at her. "Lemmie ask you something…Carie, Gatamon…"

"What?" the two said together, looking up.

"When you're at home…where you were…" T.K. worked out how he was going to say it. "What…what did you guys do for fun?"

Carie and Gatamon looked at each other, then up at him again. "We…usually didn't have time for fun." Gatamon muttered.

"We was always moving." Carie added grimly. "Always running 'way."

"From…what?" T.K. asked curiously.

Carie and Gatamon both looked down, giving him the hint that they didn't want to talk about it. "But…but when you _did_ have time…" he tried again. "What did you do?"

Carie rocked back and forth slightly on the ground. "We would talk." she said finally. "And tell jokes. Sometimes people would sing, or tell stories. Mama used to tell the bestest stories…"

T.K. could tell this was getting to be a tender subject, so he decided to drop it. There was silence for a moment, until a quiet rumbling noise floated through.

Carie giggled. "Tummy go 'Grrrr'" she laughed. T.K. smiled and went to the kitchen to see if they had something to eat besides TV dinners and instant oatmeal.

****

~ * ~ * ~

"So Gennai…" Izzy sat talking to the Digital Guardian at his house in the Digital World. "You really think that…Carie and Gatamon are…"

"Future DigiDestined." the now-young man set the cup of tea down on the table the two were sitting by. "Yes, I do. I believe strongly that Carie is, as she says, the future child of Kari and T.K., likewise Gatamon is to Gatomon and Patamon."

"But Gennai…" Izzy prompted, also setting down his cup. "If they are from the future, what would make them come here, to our time?"

"I'm not sure, my young friend." sighed Gennai, "I have felt a negative energy in the time stream. Something may be desperately wrong in our future. Maybe Carie and Gatamon were sent here to find help…"

"Just what could happen…" Izzy muttered, thinking deeply. "LadyDevimon mentioned Daemon…Gennai, you don't think that…"

"…I do." said Gennai shortly. "If Daemon found a way to escape the Dark Ocean, it could spell disaster for the DigiDestined, perhaps great enough to send a child to the past for help…"

"But if that's true." Izzy persisted. "Carie insists that she hasn't seen her 'parents' for over two years. What could've happened to us, or our future selves? You don't think we're all…"

Gennai's face was grim. "I don't know, Izzy." he said finally. "I don't know."

~ * ~ * ~

T.K. awoke late at night to a loud, frightened gasp. He rolled over and looked down at the little sleeping pallet on the floor. Carie was sitting bolt upright and gasping for breath.

T.K. smiled in relief. "Did'ja have a bad dream?" he asked.

Carie looked at him and nodded. "Yeah…"

T.K. pulled himself up on his elbow. "What was it about?"

She shook her head uncertainly. T.K. could tell she didn't really want to think about it. Kari's advice rang in his head _"She's liable to have nightmares. If she wakes up with one, try to calm her down. But make sure she goes back to sleep before you do."_

He had an idea. He got out of bed and flipped on the lamp. Patamon and Gatamon, who had been sleeping next to their partners, yawned and sat up, blinking. Carie looked up. "Daddy? Somethin' wrong?"

"Nope." T.K. said, looking in his closet. "I'm just looking for something…ah, here it is."

He pulled out a box that looked like it hadn't been opened in a very long time. He blew some dust off the lid and opened the top, searching for something inside. Patamon flew over and landed on his head. "T.K., what're you looking for?" he yawned sleepily.

"Got it." T.K. pulled out an old-looking, but still fully-stuffed and cuddly, brown teddy bear. An eye was missing, and the red bow around its neck was frayed, but it was still cute and usable. 

Patamon cocked his head. "What…what is that?"

"It's my old stuffed bear." T.K. explained as he stood. "I used to sleep with him when I was younger, before I met you." he winked at his partner. "Sora taught me a little trick…"

He crouched down by Carie and gently rubbed the streaked tears off her cheeks with the bear's paws. "Please don't cry, little girl." came a high-pitched voice. "No need to be scared. I bet a little smile will make it all better."

Using the bear as a prop, T.K. tickled Carie under the ribs. Carie giggled and laughed until she rolled over on her back, a big smile on her face. "There." T.K. said in the bear's voice, setting the stuffed toy on her chest. "No more tears now. Everything's all right."

Carie pulled the bear over to her and hugged it tightly. Gatamon made a huffing noise, so Carie put her on the bear's head and hugged her as well. Then she finally looked back up at T.K. "Thanks, Daddy." she sighed, crawling back into bed. "I feel better now."

T.K. smiled. "Good." he flipped off the light and crawled back into bed. "Sleep tight."

There was a silence as the Digimon settled back into place with their partners, then Carie spoke again. "Daddy?"

"Yeah?" T.K. rolled over so he could see her better. She was turned towards him, hugging the bear as tight as she could, while Gatamon sat at the top of the doll's head, cuddled into her chin.

"Don't go away again, Daddy." she sniffed. "I don't like you to go 'way."

T.K. reached down and ruffled her hair. "Don't worry." he assured her. "I won't."

She smiled at him, pulled the bear closer, and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep. T.K. smiled at her, then dropped off himself. But his sleep wasn't nearly so easy.

Like Kari had before, there was a dream waiting for him. Carie's dream. Some how he knew, it had to be hers. He saw a room, filled with white and brown furniture, white wall paper, and various small, multi-colored decorations, some he quite liked and some he felt like a woman had chosen.

In this room, sitting on the couch, were a few figures he knew well. One was himself, years older, dressed in green and blue. His hair was longer and the hat was gone, but in the face you could tell it was him. Next to him was Kari, also years older, with shoulder-length hair and a weary, but bright, smile. Patamon and Gatomon were curled next to each other between them. Carie and Gatamon sat on the floor, and Carie was stacking blocks into a tower as high as she could. This little girl was no more than four years old, and Gatamon looked like a kitten.

Something about the room gave you the feeling of ignorant bliss. Something told you that all wasn't right in the world, but for a moment these people were enjoying themselves, ignoring what was going on for a time of family togetherness.

Carie stood on her tiptoes to put a block on the top of the tower, then lost her balance and fell backwards into Gatamon. They giggled and laughed on the floor, while Kari and T.K. laughed to each other on the couch. But this happy time just couldn't last.

A siren sounded outside to the flashing of red lights. The door suddenly crunched inward from an attack blast, just hanging on because it was built to try and withstand. Kari and T.K. leapt up.

T.K. swept Carie off the floor and handed her to Kari. "Get out of here." he told her sternly as the door crunched more.

"But…T.K.…" Kari started.

"Take Carie and go!" T.K. insisted as the door continued to fall apart. "There isn't much time! Run!"

Kari looked at the door, then gave her husband a quick kiss on the cheek and ran for it with Carie in her arms. Gatomon kissed Patamon on top of the head, then grabbed Gatamon in her mouth like a mama cat does for a kitten and followed after.

The door exploded inward, showering T.K. and Patamon with debris. A dark, humanoid Digimon stepped in, flanked by a dozen others. "Got you." he laughed deeply.

There was a crash and a flash of light that swept over everything. Kari and Carie ran from the house as fast as they could. Carie looked back with big, scared eyes as her father vanished for what was to be the last time…

T.K. burst awake with a sudden start. He sat gasping for breath for a moment before the dark view of his room came into clearer focus and he realized it was just a dream.

He looked down in the dim light of the rising sun at the girl lying on the ground. The bear was pulled close to her and she slept peacefully. As he looked on her calm face, T.K. wondered, just as Kari had, _What's going on? What happened? Carie, why won't you tell us? Why?_

****

~ * ~ * ~

Kari walked along the street to the park. Up ahead she saw T.K. and Carie. Carie was riding on T.K.'s back and hugging the young man around the neck. Also caught around the neck in Carie's arm was a small, brown teddy bear. Patamon sat on T.K.'s head, and Gatamon was sitting on top of him.

Carie spotted her first. "Mommy!" she called in excitement, waving. T.K. crouched down to let her off, and she leapt off, running for her 'mama'.

Kari bent down and picked her up. Carie hugged her with a giggle, cuddling into her shirt. Kari smiled. "Where'd you get the cute bear?" she asked Carie gently.

"Daddy gave it to me." Carie giggled as she set her down.

Kari looked up at T.K. in surprised as he popped a crick out of his neck. "It was an old toy of mine." he explained. "She had a nightmare last night, it calmed her down."

Kari smiled. "Well that was nice."

Carie tugged at T.K.'s arm. "Daddy, come push me on the swing!" she begged, and pulled him down to the swing set.

Awkwardly, T.K. played with Carie for the better part of the hour, Kari watching and laughing. After thirty minutes, they were walking together down the street, Carie swinging back and forth on T.K.'s arm, the guy looking very awkward as they went.

Kari giggled again. "Poor T.K." she laughed as Carie leapt off his arm to the ground between them. "You're not really cut out to be a father yet, are you?"

"Well…" T.K. admitted sheepishly as Gatamon pushed her way up next to Patamon on his head. "I always wanted to have kids, but I was hoping to wait a few years first."

"I know what you mean." Kari rubbed the little girl on the head. "She's only been here a week or so, but she does kinda rub off on you, doesn't she?"

T.K. was about to reply, but the heavy ball of a bronze ball-and-chain set struck him in the gut, knocking all the wind out of him. He dropped to his knees, clutching his stomach and gasping for breath.

"T.K.!" Patamon cried, grabbing Gatamon before she fell off. The ball swung around again and knocked both the small Digimon off, throwing them to the ground. They rolled down the grassy hill to the right of path.

"Gatamon!" Carie cried. Gatomon ran down to the other two Digimon.

"What's happening?" Kari gasped, pulling Carie behind her.

There was a deep laugh. Spinning the ball and chain around leisurely around in a circle, Phantomon loomed in front of them. "Hello, children." he laughed. "Long time no see."

He glanced to the side, where T.K. was regaining his breath. "Not so fast!"

This time the ball connected with the side of T.K.'s head and sent him rolling down the hill, into Patamon and Gatomon. "T.K.!" Kari shouted.

"Daddy!" Carie screamed. Kari pulled her as far away from Phantomon as she could.

The evil Digimon turned on Kari. "Aw, isn't that sweet?" he hissed in a devilish manner. "My Lord would be quite pleased…"

The chain swung around at the girls, and wrapped around Kari's upper body, pinning her arms to her sides. With a tug, he tightened it so that she could hardly breath. Kari let out a strangled cry.

"Kari…" groaned T.K. from below, trying to lift himself to his feet but just not having the strength yet.

The chain tightened again and Kari let out a shout as it squeezed her ribs to the point of cracking. Phantomon laughed. Gatomon leapt at him, but he knocked her away easily.

"Let mommy go!"

Phantomon looked down. Carie stood out, unprotected, glaring at him angrily. "Bad ghosty!" she shouted. "Bad bad! Leave us 'lone!"

Phantomon grinned in his dark way. With a flash he was gone, and Kari was released from her chains. T.K., Gatomon and Patamon climbed the hill, carrying Gatamon with them. "Where's Carie?" T.K. gasped.

"Momma!"

Their heads shot up. Carie was trapped inside a floating purple bubble, banging helplessly on the walls. Phantomon was taking her with him as he floated up, into the sky.

"Carie!" Kari shouted running after them with T.K. on her heels. "Bring her back! Carie!"

"Momma! Papa!" Carie cried again, tears rushing down her face. "Momma!"

A portal of green light appeared behind them. Phantomon grinned down at the two teenagers trying to catch up, then disappeared into the portal. Seconds later, Carie disappeared after him and the hole in time closed.

"Carie!" Kari shouted again even as the portal closed above them. "Carie!"

The small brown teddy bear landed at her feet. In stunned surprise, Kari dropped to her knees and shakily lifted the bear into her arms. "Carie…" she whispered again, then dissolved into tears, clutching the bear tightly to her chest.

Patamon and Gatomon stared up at the sky where the portal had been. Gatamon looked up longingly for her partner, but say no comfort. T.K. came to Kari's side, and came down on his knees so he was even with her.

Her took hr by the shoulders and lifted her head so he could look into her eyes. She looked at him, eyes filled with tears. "She…she's gone…" she whispered. "Carie… she's gone…"

Kari threw herself at T.K. and he let her cry into his shoulder. Her arms clutched around him as she sobbed. His arms fell over her shoulders and held her tight. In the midst of this, the only thing he could think of to say was this:

"We'll get her back, Kari. Somehow, we'll get her back…"


	5. Back To The Future

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My last chapter was void of author- babble. Why? Because I forgot it. But all there is to say is, thanks to everyone who reviewed. Also, I've started a little contest. See the details in my profile.

****

Disclaimer: Must I do it again? (Lawyer thrusts a handful of legal documents at her) Okay, okay, I'll do it again…I don't own Digimon. If I ever do, you will see the return of all the DigiDestined from 02, and Elvis will marry Bigfoot with Frankenstein's monster as the maid of honor…

****

Mysterious Child

Chapter 5: Back To The Future

By two days later, all the DigiDestined knew of Carie's kidnapping. They also knew that Kari's inner maternal aspects had taken over, and by that we mean she was worried sick.

In fact, she was so worried that some of the DigiDestined, especially Tai and T.K., were starting to worry about _her_. She was having trouble sleeping, even with both Gatomon and Gatamon curled up beside her for comfort, and she obviously wasn't thinking about much else. T.K., however, was taken a more head-strong approach to it: He was determined to find a way to save Carie once and for all.

Finally, Izzy called a meeting to explain what he and Gennai had been speculating in secret.

"Gennai and I met a little while ago, about 24 hours before Carie was taken." the red-haired genius explained, looking around the room. One way or another they'd managed to stuff all 12 DigiDestined into Tai's bedroom. Davis, Cody and Ken sat on the top bunk, cross-legged. Izzy was sitting facing them all in the computer chair. Yolei, Mimi, Sora, Joe, and Matt were scattered around on the floor. Tai, Kari and T.K. sat on the lower bed.

Kari was more or less leaning against T.K., resting her head sleepily on his shoulder. His arm was draped around her. Nothing had been said, there had been no dramatic 'I love you' scenes, no kisses, no nothing, but they had already been accepted as the official couple, ever since Carie disappeared. Even Davis had really accepted it, though he still wasn't happy about the idea.

Izzy cleared his throat and continued. "From what we figured out, the only hypothesis is that Carie's story was true, that she _is_ T.K. and Kari's future daughter…"

He stooped for a moment to see how everyone would take it. Kari and T.K. didn't seam very surprised, just glanced at each other knowingly. Tai and Matt exchanged stupid grins, as if they'd known it would happen all along. Mimi couldn't help herself, she broke down into a fit of giggles, and soon Sora and Yolei were right along with her. Davis sighed and rested his head in his hands.

"Gennai suspects that she was sent here, by one of us, to find help." Izzy brushed his hair back. "The Digimon that have chased her in this time have mentioned Daemon. Most likely, that's what she's been running from."

"But how, Izzy?" Kari insisted. "How did Carie get here? And those Digimon, what about them?!"

Izzy hadn't been prepared for Kari's outburst, but he recomposed himself. "Gennai has gone to investigate that, Kari." he assured her. "He found an old legend, a little while ago…"

"Legend?" Yolei asked. "What kind of legend?"

Izzy again cleared his throat. "It's an old DigiWorld story about portals to other worlds. There are, of course, the ones we know: Gateways opened to our world, the Dark Ocean, and that place of dreams."

The DigiDestined nodded. They knew that, of course. "But there have been legends about portals with the power and direction to send people through the time stream to other…other 'worlds' if you will, in time." he paused a moment, contemplating. "It's the same theory as traveling from the Real World to the Digital World, only it would require a much greater amount of energy to a confined space. If the Digimon under Daemon found that correct frequency to create that energy, they could duplicate it."

Sora cocked her head. "So?" she asked. "Has Gennai come up with anything yet?"

_"Indeed he has!"_

Izzy's lap top suddenly burst to life and, with a brilliant flash, there stood the same short-haired young man as had been 2 years previously. 

"Gennai!" Izzy was shocked. "I thought you said you'd _warn _me before coming through like that!"

"I apologize, my friend." Gennai grinned at the red-haired genius. "It must have slipped my mind." Izzy rolled his eyes. Gennai loved getting on his nerves.

Tai stood. "Well anyway, it's good to see you, Gennai." he said. "I suppose you have an answer…?"

Gennai nodded. "It took a while of tracking." he admitted. "It's not like you can pull ancient legends out of thin air an expect to find something like the Fountain of Youth, but I've done my best and prevailed."

Kari's eyes lit up. "You mean you…" she sat up expectantly. "You…found a way?"

Gennai smiled. "Of course." he said, turning to the screen. "Just follow me. I'll show you."

~ * ~ * ~

Daemon leisurely examined his wondrous collection. Dangling, crystalline gems, twelve of them now, each of a different, brilliant color of the rainbow. He gently brushed one, this of a bright blue color. These icy masterpieces, so delicate, and yet, so strong. Only a single command could cause any of them to break.

And the stories they told! Stories of sweet victory over his foes. He looked on now at the stories of the darkened figures inside. The loving father, locked in golden yellow, desperate to save his family. The brave young lady, in a sort of lilac that worked with the reddish violet of her hair, determined to help her loved ones. And his latest, in a dazzling orange, the strong leader, trying to protect the last chance they had.

Daemon laughed as he looked at the frozen features on each of their faces. So determined, and yet…so helpless…

~ * ~ * ~

"This…is it?"

It was easy to understand why Tai couldn't believe what he was seeing. They'd come in through the DigiPort, hiked for about two miles through rather rocky forest terrain, and finally ducked inside a cold cave to find…this thing.

It was a single, stone loop, about 7 inches thick all around and six feet in diameter. Next to it was a stone square, a consol, about three feet high with a top about one and a half feet squared, covered with buttons about and inch wide and marked with odd symbols.

"Yes indeed, Matt." Gennai said smartly. "It would have to be this small to compress all the energy needed to make the jump across the space-time continuum."

"But how do we know where they took Carie?" T.K. asked.

Gennai opened Izzy's yellow pineapple lap top and showed them a single line. At the middle, it was white, then black for a small stretch, then white again, black, white, black, stretching for a while now, then white stretching for about twice as long, a stretch of black, then white. On the left side of these blotches, it was pure white and stretched on, seemingly forever. Towards the other edge of the screen, it got darker and darker, turning to black and giving off a dark gray aura. As he scrolled to the right, it got dark and darker until…nothing.

"What is that, Gennai?" Cody asked in an awed whisper.

"This is the Digital Time line." Gennai explained. "Using the power of portals like this, the four Guardians of the Digital World…That would be Azulongmon and his fellows…can tap into the timeline in times of great necessity."

He continued typing and explaining. "See the dark areas? These are periods of time that evil Digimon took over the Digital World." he pointed to the first black space. "This would be Devimon, then Etemon, Myotismon, and the Dark Masters. Then the space of white is peace, before the Digimon Emperor, Owikawa, and MaloMyotismon."

"So what's that darkness over there?" Ken pointed. "The big one, at the end?"

"That." said Gennai firmly. "Is Daemon. And that is where they took Carie."

"Really?" Mimi asked, still confused.

"But Gennai…" Ken insisted. "There's so much time in there, how can we be sure where Carie went too?"

"Each of these lines is 1 Digital Year." Gennai said, pointing out some small lines no one had noticed. "Around here, the end of the Dark Masters, this world time realigned with the Real World time. We can assume that Carie was six years old, am I correct?" Everyone nodded. "We add that in with the fact that her memories would have only been at full energy at two years old, then we can assume that she was taken…here."

He pointed to a place about four years into the big darkness. "But why there?" Yolei asked.

"Because," Izzy answered. "Carrie remembered all of us, each one, to the end."

"Note how it gets darkest right here." Gennai was still pointing to the same spot. "The less DigiDestined there are to protect, the darker the time line would get. If all the DigiDestined were eliminated, as Carie said, this is the point it would be. And each year goes at the same time, all on top of each other, so it would be this same time of year."

"But that means…" Kari muttered, disturbed. "Carie's been trapped…for two days now…" she shook her head worriedly. "She's probably so scared."

T.K. squeezed her shoulder to comfort her. "Okay then." he insisted. "Turn it on, and let's go!"

"I'm afraid it doesn't exactly work that way, T.K." Gennai said with a sigh. "Unfortunately, due to the frequency of the portal's wavelengths, only Digimon and the Destined with D-3 Digivices can go through."

There was the expected silence, then Matt spoke. "So we…us older ones…we can't help?"

Gennai nodded grimly. "I'm afraid not."

There was another silence, then Kari took a step forward. "Alright then." she said, determined. "The more time we spend here, the less we have to help Carie. So let's go."

Gennai shut the laptop. "Right. Izzy, Ken, come over here and I'll show you how to work this…"

He stood by the stone consol. The two boys looked over his shoulders. "Now watch." he instructed. "Each of these nine buttons here are numbers. You have to type in three coordinates: The year, the world, and the place. The you push this one with the star and…vola."

He pressed several buttons so fast that only Izzy and Ken could have remembered what he did. Around the ring, white bits of Digi-Code appeared, and then disappeared. The center of it began to glow a bright blue-purple.

Gennai nodded and pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, which he handed to Ken. "These are the coordinates to get back here." he instructed. "Come back as soon as possible, understand?"

Ken nodded and joined the other younger DigiDestined in front of the portal. Izzy held up the laptop. "We'll be monitoring the time line the whole time you're there." he assured them. "So, the only thing left to say is…Good luck."

They nodded, and amongst many good-byes and good-lucks, they began to leave. First Davis, then Cody, Yolei and Ken, each stepped into the portal with their partners and vanished.

Kari took a deep, steadying breath as she stepped forward, Gatomon beside her and little Gatamon in her arms. She felt a hand grip her shoulders and looked up to find T.K. smiling at her.

"Ready?" he asked.

She sighed. "As I'll ever be."

Together, with a deep breath, they stepped through the portal and began the journey through time.


	6. The DigiDestined's Nightmare

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My, this is rather popular…*low whistle* any more so and I might have to go to the hospital for heart failure. 117 reviews last time I checked, and it's probably so much more by now! Thank you, everyone, and I'm gonna try to make it real interesting!

Someone asked if there was supposed to be a touch of 'Stargate' in here. Um…No. My mom watches it, but I don't like it too much, except for the time they were going over that same day over and over and over, and the only ones who remembered were the alien and the general, and the general resigned one day so he could kiss that female major…hard.

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Disclaimer: If I ever own Digimon, you'll know. Trust me.

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Mysterious Child

Chapter 6: The DigiDestined's Nightmare

A sudden rush of color and light! A blinding range of colors, all swirling around them, spinning almost out of control with all ranges of the spectrum. It was like being stuck in a giant washing machine with all the watercolors, crayons, colored pencils, markers, pastels and paints in the world. And in some way, all those brilliant colors didn't mix together at all, were all just as separate and bright as ever. All and all, it was extremely over-whelming, and gradually it got harder and harder to breathe until…

It all stopped.

~ * ~ * ~

The six DigiDestined and their seven partners stood looking out at the barren wasteland. Finally, Davis said it: "Where the heck are we?"

It was gray. Like they'd stepped into an old movie with no sound or color at all. The ground was pale, white-gray, smooth but occasionally pitted with rocks. There were several sparse bushes here and there, a darker gray. But some places in between were scorched from attack blasts, burned such a dark shade it was almost black. And there, towering in the distance, was a huge castle, stark black against the monotone gray of the sky.

Yolei brushed back her violet hair. "It must be the Digital World." she concluded. "This must be what happened after Daemon took over…"

Gatomon jumped forward and examined on of the darkened parts. She sniffed it carefully. "This was a Digimon's attack." she said slowly. "Insect-type, most likely. Kawagamon." 

"We're on a battle field." Hawkmon said, glancing around. "There's a stench of death around here."

Patamon's ears were lifted high up above his head, listening in each direction. "It's too quite." he said softly, letting them drop. "Not a breath, not a gust of wind. Just… us."

Everyone's breath caught in their throat and they just stood there, watching, thinking. Mist seamed to cloud their minds, and all they could wonder was if…they had…

T.K. shook his head, breaking the spell. "Come on." he said, taking a step forward. "We should head towards that castle over there. If we're looking for Carie, I bet that's where they'd take her."

Ken nodded. "Sounds good to me." he said. "Let's go."

The group left and walked down the path.

~ * ~ * ~

"What was that?" Daemon asked, toying with an idea. "The DigiDestined from the past have found the portals and made it here?"

DemiDevimon nodded fearfully. "They're determined to get her back, my Lord." he said, gesturing towards the door that eventually lead to the dungeons. "I suggest that we should…"

"Quiet, bat!" the master snapped again, glaring viciously. DemiDevimon shut his mouth immediately. "Now. We must make use of this glorious opportunity…"

"Opportunity?!" DemiDevimon squeaked. "Opportunity for _what?!_ To get us killed?!"

Devimon had a derisive grin on his face. "No." he said smoothly. "An opportunity to be rid of all our problems once and for all….You see, DemiDevimon, if I have beaten these Digital Fools once when they were full-grown adults, what chance do they really have if they're still children?"

"But my Lord…" DemiDevimon gasped. "Destroying them now would mean… they would be destroyed in _their_ time as well! That would change the timeline and…"

"We would not only have six less fools to eliminate…" Daemon grinned wickedly. "But we also wouldn't have to worry about that little brat of theirs, either."

Carie curled tightly into a tiny ball. She didn't know what the bad thing was planning, but she could hear his voice through the top of her cell. She knew her parents were coming, and she knew they were in just as big trouble as she was.

She sniffed and wiped a last tear away. "Mommy…Daddy…Please find me soon…"

~ * ~ * ~

The DigiDestined stood at a crossroads. After walking only half an hour, here it was: Three different roads leading off in three different directions towards three different, almost identical, black castles.

"So?" Davis asked, shielding his eyes from the light to look down each path. "Which way do we go?"

Cody looked down each path. "Well…" he sighed. "I think the best plan is to split into teams of 2. Each one takes a road. We travel down it for a day, then try to meet back here when it gets dark. If one group isn't here, we'll know something's wrong and go after them."

The rest of the group nodded. It sounded like a good idea to them, too. "Okay then…" Yolei began. "Maybe if we stuck to DNA teams…"

She stopped. Kari had her eyes locked with hers. It was pretty obvious that she wanted to stay with T.K.

Yolei cleared her throat. "Uh…Alright." she said. "Let's do it this way…"

Eventually, T.K. and Kari took the road to the left, Yolei and Ken took the road to the right, while Davis and Cody went straight down the middle road. Before they left, Ken made a note on his watch.

"It's eleven forty, AM." he told everyone. "We'll need to get back here before dark. Everyone try to head back around four o'clock, okay?"

After everyone agreed that was alright, the party set off once again on their separate ways, calling good bye as the paths veered away from each other, leaving it just to the two.

When they walked alone, Kari glanced up at T.K. "Do you think we can find her?" she asked worriedly.

T.K. grinned not-too-convincingly. "Sure we can…" he said, distracted. "I'm just worried about what happens when we do…"

~ * ~ * ~

For Yolei and Ken, the walk was not as long as they had estimated. They'd barely been walking twenty minutes when the fortress loomed up in front of them.

"What is this place?" Yolei asked, looking up at the black castle. "It looks like a prison."

Ken gazed around the area. He spotted some motion at the left. "Look there!" he called, pointing. "Those rocks…"

They glanced at each other and nodded, then headed for the range of black rocks that stood out in the distance.

~ * ~ * ~

"Well." Davis said, shielding his eyes as he looked up at the mass of black stone. "Here we are."

"Look." Cody muttered, scanning the area. "The door's not guarded. There's no one around."

"Let's just go in then." Armodillomon suggested.

"Yeah!" said Davis, running for the door. "Let's go, Cody!"

But something didn't feel right to Cody. He had a sudden flash of a dark feeling as Davis and Veemon reached for the doorknob, he felt a sudden blast of cold air on the back of his neck. "No, wait!" he started, but it was too late.

Davis flung the door open, and as he did the whole castle disappeared. Davis and Veemon dropped out of sight. "Davis! Veemon!" the remaining two called, running to the side.

Davis had grabbed onto a piece of rock the jutted out from the side of the fifty-foot pit. Veemon had grabbed his feet, and now both were hanging high above the bottom of the pit, which was colored strangely for this weird place.

Cody and Armodillomon covered their noses from the stench. "Phew!" shouted Armodillomon. "What _is_ that?"

"I dunno!" Davis called. "Just pull us up, would ya?"

After quite a bit of huffing and puffing, Davis and his partner were safely up on the side. They sputtered out their thanks, then bent over the edge when their friends.

On the ground were several large rocks, but they were strange. The coloring around them was the usual monotone gray. But the rocks were a sort of tannish, pale color, at least some of them. Others were darker, others were chocolate brown, some were a toasty dark. Squinting closely, they could see tuffs of different colors. Reds, browns, yellows, blacks…

Davis and Cody drew back in horror as they realized what they were. "Bodies…" Cody whispered. "Human…Bodies…"

~ * ~ * ~

It took another hour, but Yolei and Ken made it to the dark stones. Several figures, dressed in gray, stumbled around the area, all skinny and bony like they hadn't eaten well enough for at least a year. Some were smoothing the rocks into bricks, some were knocking big rocks down to the right size, and the rest were dragging the bricks from place to place.

"What're they doing?" Yolei asked Ken in a hushed whisper.

"It looks like they're building something." Ken muttered. "A building of some sort."

"They don't look too happy about it." Wormmon said.

"Indeed." Hawkmon nodded.

One human figure, a female, stumbled forward and dropped her brick was a crash, falling to her knees with a gasp. Yolei hurried to her side. "Let me help…" she said kindly.

The girl look up, startled. She had half-frame glasses, brown hair and brown eyes. Both Yolei and the girl gasped when they saw each other. "Na…Naomi?" Yolei gasped, recognizing her sister instantly.

Naomi didn't speak, she just gasped unsteadily and stared wide-eyed. Yolei tried smiling gently. "Naomi…It's me…Yolei…"

Naomi seamed to have forgotten how to talk, but her energy was back full blast. In a panic, she grabbed the brick she had been carrying and ran in the opposite direction of her sister. "Naomi!" Yolei called after her, but she was gone.

Ken put his arm over Yolei's shoulder. Yolei looked up at her boyfriend with a sigh. "Why?" she muttered, half to him and half to herself. "Why?"

~ * ~ * ~

T.K. and Kari weren't enjoying their trip, either. They'd walked the waste land for an hour and found nothing, finally reached the castle as their feet were giving out, found the door heavily guarded, managed to sneak in through a sewer duct in the moat, and were now scouring the halls in the basement.

"Take a look at these, T.K." Patamon said, holding up a ring of gems. His partner helped Kari out of the man-hole like pipe that lead to the sewer, shut the iron-bar lid, and turned to examine the gems.

They were flat diamonds, clear, and looking like they were made of glass, hanging from a hole in the top corner on a small black ring. "What do you suppose they are?"

Kari suddenly reached back and grabbed T.K.'s hand. "I hear her." she whispered.

"What?" T.K. asked, confused.

"I _hear_ her!" Kari was growing more excited. "She's down here, come on!"

She began sprinting down the hall, Gatomon at her heels. T.K. started after her with Gatamon in his arms. "Wait a sec!" Patamon pushed the ring into his hands. "I think we'll need these."

Kari ran down a long hallway. There were lots of things she quite rightly assumed were unoccupied, rather high-tech, prison cells. Where there would have been bars in those old western movies, there was nothing but a two-inch thick panel of some sort of tinted force field. Each one was a different color: Red, yellow, purple, orange, blue…

Kari slide to a stop in front of a green field. A small figure was curled next to the wall inside. "There she is!" she gasped, pressing her hands to the field, trying to fall in to reach her future daughter. "Carie! Carie, honey, here we are!"

The girl looked up, and her face spread into a smile. "Mommy!" she cried, scrambling to her feet and running to the field, tears filling her eyes.

"Don't worry, Carie." Kari soothed through the field. "We'll get you out."

T.K., Gatamon and Patamon hurried up from behind. Carie looked up at them. "Daddy! Gatamon!"

"Hi Carie." T.K. whispered, out of breath. Gatamon dropped to the floor and ran to the field between herself and her partner.

Patamon was flying about half-way up the side of the wall. "T.K., look at this." he said, pointing to a small diamond in the side. "I think those diamonds on the ring would fit right in here."

T.K. pulled the ring out of his pocket. Patamon was right. It did look like just the right size of one of the diamond to fit it. In fact, there was one the exact shade of green as the force field…

He slid the green diamond into the insert on the wall and pressed. The green field retracted into the wall slowly, sliding out like you might a pane of glass. When it was gone, Kari dropped to her knees and pulled Carie into a hug.

Carie was crying, but it was a happy cry. "Oh, Mommy, I knew you'd save me!" she sobbed. "I (hiccup) I was so scared!"

Kari stoked her hair. "It's okay now." she soothed. "We're here."

She finally let go. Gatamon leapt up into Carie's arms. "Gatamon!" the little girl laughed, giving her friend a hug.

T.K. bent down and lifted Carie up off the floor in a hug. As he did, a red light began flashing in every hall they could see, and with it came a huge _BOEEP-BOEEP-BOEEP _like the alarm system in an army movie.

T.K. and Kari locked eyes. "We've got to get out of here." Kari whispered in shock.

"Come on." T.K. gave her Carie and Gatamon. "We'll get out through the sewer duct we got in through."

Hearing the noise of dozens of footsteps behind them, they turned on their heels and ran.


	7. KariMama

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DA-AM-IT!!! *smacks head on the keyboard one more time* YOU STUPID PIECE OF JUNK!!!

*deep breath* The darn computer lost all my files I saved on this one disk. I've got the stuff I saved to HTML format, but this chapter I wrote, as well as the beginning of my fourth chapter to Diamond in the Rough are all GONE! Darn it, now I know how Digicowboy felt.

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Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. Okay? I am not in the mood to be funny.

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Mysterious Child

Chapter 7: Kari-Mama

Kari and T.K. ran through the halls as fast as possible, Carie and Gatamon in Kari's arms, while Gatomon and Patamon ran/flew behind them. There were noised behind them, the scoot-scoot scratchity-scratch-stratch, swishity-swish of a small army of approaching Bakemon.

They reached the sewer drain without a moment to spare. T.K. wrenched the metal cover off the circular hole and turned to Kari. "Get down there!" he urged.

Kari quickly obliged, leaping down the latter with Carie clinging around her neck until she reached the bottom and gathered her up again. Gatomon jumped down and Patamon flew after her as the Bakemon grew closer. Kari looked up. "Hurry, T.K.!"

T.K. swung his legs over the latter and started climbing down as fast as he could. But before he could make it down, a hand gripped him by the collar and pulled him in. "T.K.!" Patamon shouted, but either the boy or his captors forced the heavy metal cover back on the hole, trapping them below in the tunnels.

Kari's instincts told her to run, but she couldn't. They just sat there, breathing hard in the dark, as the din above quieted. "T.K.!" Kari shouted after the silence. "Can you hear me?"

The metal cover slid back, and T.K.'s head appeared in the hole. But it was no comfort to any of them.

A black claw gripped his hair, wrenching the boy's head back so his neck was exposed, and to it was held a sharp, silver sword. It was held so close that if T.K. even breathed wrong, it would cut deep.

A devilish form, too big to fit in the hole, appeared behind him, holding the sword. Daemon. Carie hid her eyes in Kari's shoulder. The evil Digimon grinned an evil grin. "Ain't that sweet?" he cooed fakely.

Kari pulled Carie close and took several nervous steps back, trying to keep as much space as possible between the evil Digimon and her future child. Daemon grinned at her again, then made a point of pulling T.K. roughly forward by the hair, making sure they could clearly see the blade pressed to his throat.

"Now then…" he hissed in a devilishly sweet way. "If you just come up now, then Daddy here gets out of this in one piece." his eyes narrowed as he made his point. "Refuse and the next thing you see is his head rolling across the floor."

Kari stepped back again. She was afraid, not only of T.K.'s death, but what would happen to Carie if he died now, before they…

Daemon spoke again. "Tick-tock, dear." he hissed down. "You have…until I count to ten." he positioned the blade under T.K.'s chin.

T.K. locked eyes with Kari and shook his head slowly. It was obvious what he was telling her: _Go on…Get out of here…Save yourselves…_

"Ready now? One…Two… Three…"

"T.K…" Kari whispered, the closed her eyes, trying to hold back tears.

"Four…Five…"

Carie looked at her mama, fearful, unable to help.

"Six…Seven…"

Patamon glared at Daemon angrily, and gazed fearfully at the blade poised at his partner's neck.

"Eight…Nine…"

"ALRIGHT!" Kari shouted. "We're coming up!"

T.K.'s eyes begged her no, but she once again climbed the latter with Carie hanging on the whole way. Daemon grinned as his Bakemon slaves to the two girls and Digimon into custody. He had the urge to slit the boy's throat right then and there, but Daemon was a mon of his words.

He pulled the blade away and shoved T.K. forward into the other two humans. "Well now." he said, sliding the blade into its sheaf. "I suppose you're wondering about your future selves…"

The two kids stared at him a moment. Was he capturing them or giving them a history lesson? But the realized he was only trying to show off.

The Bakemon that were holding them pushed their prisoners away through the halls. They struggled to remember what it was. Left, up, left, right, and then into a hallway that looked big enough to hold Apoclomon. Then it was through a side door and into a room that baffled the imagination.

All around them hung crystals. Huge, layered structures, like giant flowers, points apon points. They numbered twelve, dazzling structures of might and power, each a different color. But the thing that amazed them most was the dark figures inside.

Kari, forgetting her peril a moment, stepped forward in amazement to gaze upward at a soft pick crystal in front of them, holding a running woman with one hand stretched out. T.K. stared up, hypnotized, at a wounded figure trapped inside a golden yellow crystal. Neither could speak in their amazement.

"Beautiful, aren't they?" Daemon asked, as though admiring a piece of artwork. "My masterpieces…"

Carie wiggled free of Kari's arms and stared up in awe at the pink crystal, and at the face of the woman inside. With a stuttering, winded breath, she whispered one word: "M-M-Mommy?"

Daemon's face spread into a grin. The damage had been done.

Before you could think, the three children and their Digimon were back inside the little green cell. For a few minutes, T.K. pounded on the shield keeping them inside, but to no avail. Finally, Kari sighed. "It's no good T.K. There's no way out."

T.K. let out an exasperated sigh and slid down next to Kari and Carie. "You're right…" he muttered. "But…That was _us_ in there. The whole gang. Frozen. I just…can't believe it."

There was a silence that filled the small room, until Patamon spoke suddenly. "Hey! Where's Gatamon?"

~ * ~ * ~

Despite the short walk there, Ken and Yolei had quite a trip back from their location, and arrived at 4:30. When they got there, they were rather surprised to find only two waiting for them.

"Davis! Cody!" Ken called, coming up the path.

The other two stood. "We were starting to get worried." muttered Cody, deeply disturbed about something.

Yolei brushed back her bangs, also disturbed with what they had seen. They talked it out, and soon all four of them were disturbed and upset, it was 5:18, and T.K. and Kari still weren't back yet.

Davis finally looked up at the lack of two in their group. "Where are they?" he asked out loud. "They really should've been here by…"

"He…el…lp…"

All the heads turned in surprise. Gatamon was dragging herself up the path Kari and T.K. had gone down, panting. About ten feet from them, she collapsed. She wasn't wounded, she'd just run the whole way from the castle, and she was overheated and exhausted.

The DigiDestined and their partners hurried to help her. Yolei cradled her tiny body gently, while Hawkmon fanned her with his wing until she was cool enough to speak, and when she did she explained everything, from finding Carie to Daemon's threat.

"While they were watching I…I snuck down the hall. I had to get help." she whimpered slightly. Part of her worried weither it was right to leave her partner. Yolei scratched her behind the ear until she felt better.

Davis sighed and got to his feet. "Well then." he muttered. "There's only one thing to do."

~ * ~ * ~

"Mama?"

Kari looked down. They'd been sitting there for an hour, and Carie'd been so quite she'd thought she was asleep. But the little girl was looking up at her, eyes in that wondering look people get when they can't figure something out.

"Are you my real mommy?"

Kari felt a stab. "Real…mommy?" she asked tenderly.

"'Cause there two mommies. One here, one there. Here, there. Can't be both." Carie looked like she thought herself quite smart for figuring this out. She had no idea she was hurting Kari's feelings. "So…which one real mommy?"

T.K. could tell Carie's comment cut Kari deep. Real deep. She'd always believed, really, through it all, that she _was_ her real mama. She knew, just as he did, that the woman frozen in the rooms beyond was Carie's real mama. And Kari was too, in a way. But still, she wasn't.

T.K. sighed and pulled Carie over into his lap, for once really taking on the 'fatherly' guise. "Listen, Care-Bear." he said, rubbing her on the head. "Most people only have one mommy, who loves them to death but just don't remember what it's like to be a kid. Now you," he made sure to stress this. "You're very lucky. You've got two: Your mama and…" he stalled as he motioned to Kari, "And…your Kari-mama, who loves you just as much, but still remembers what its like to be a kid."

Kari gave T.K. a grateful smile as Carie wiggled down between them. Carie was smiling broadly. "I got two mommies!" she said proudly. "My mommy and my Kari-mommy. And two daddies, too!" she turned back to T.K. "My papa and my T.K.-papa!"

T.K. was taken aback, but then he laughed. She'd been listening enough to know his name, he guessed. Soon Kari was laughing too, and Carie giggling by her side, with the two Digimon laughing right along.

Within a couple of minutes, the laughter died down, but the feeling was still there. Something about laughter stirs up the cold feelings of despair and throws them out the window. The gently relaxing feeling remained while the artificial glow of the shield, which gave a reflection of what it was like outside, slowly faded.

Soon, Carie yawned and curled up next to her newly-renamed Kari-mama and fell asleep. Kari too, dropped off, leaning her head against the wall. Patamon pulled his wings around him like a blanket, falling asleep next to the curled white ball that was Gatomon.

T.K. didn't really want to sleep. A part of him still insisted he had to stay awake and take care of the girls. But, knowing he couldn't fight the urge all night, he positioned himself between Kari and the shield wall, so that if anything came in or went out, he would know. And here he let his head drop to his chest, the fold of night coming over him, and he slept.

There was a tap on the shield. It had a zap to it, but it was a tap. T.K. opened one eye, then wrote it off as nothing and fell back asleep.

Three more came, and this time it really was more of a knock. T.K.'s eyes flew open and he glanced at the shield. Then he did a double-take. "Kari!" he gasped, shaking her. "Kari, wake up!"

"Mmh? What?" she opened her eyes half-way, then they flew open. "Davis! Guys!"

Davis grinned at them. He'd been the one who knocked, and was now standing by the green field with Gatamon in hand. Yolei, Cody, Ken and their partners stood behind them.

Kari, T.K., Carie and the two Digimon scrambled to their feet as Ken slid the green diamond into its place. The force field slid away, and in a rush so fast no one remembers it anyway, they were in the sewers heading outside. As they walked, T.K. and Kari filled in the blanks of Gatamon's story, while they were filled in on the other's finds.

"Jeez…" Yolei muttered. "So that's why Naomi was so scared of me…they think we're dead."

"I say we get out of here." Cody said. "We've got Carie now, we can go home…"

At the same time, Kari and T.K. said "No."

Everyone did a double-take. "What?" Davis gasped. "What do you mean?"

"I thought you two would want to get out of here the most." said Ken in an awed voice. "After everything that's happened to you…"

Kari glanced up at T.K., then they turned back to the others. "Don't you get it?" Kari sighed. "If we leave now, Daemon'll just send more after her. What we've gotta do is…"

"…Get rid of Daemon once and for all." T.K. finished. "We have to at least try. We can't just let our future selves stay frozen like that, who knows how many more people could die?"

After a moment, the others nodded. They knew what they had to do. "But first…" Kari was thinking. "We should find somewhere safe to hide Carie and Gatamon…"

"No!"

Now Kari looked surprised. She looked down at Carie, who was pulling on her hand. "We fight too." she said determinedly. "Bad thing must go. And if that mean fighting, den we fight too. We fight togeder."


	8. Time Stream

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I can't believe it. I just can't believe it. This is almost over. After all this, it's almost over. But it's no over quite yet! There's still an epilogue after this, so don't go away, K? And this sounded just so much better in my head…I hope you can get it.

Before anyone says it, part of this chapter DOES borrow heavily from…aw, I ain't gonna spoil it! If you've seen it, you'll recognize it. Trust me. And I have no earthly idea what Imperialdramon or Daemon's attack. So I just…improvised. Okay, so I borrowed just a little something from Inu-Yasha…it fits him, okay?!

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Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. Okie-dokie?

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Mysterious Child

Chapter 8: Time Stream

Daemon sat in his chamber, stewing things around in his head. Somehow, someway, the two DigiDestined and their rotten little brat had escaped their cell without setting off the alarm. How? How had they gotten away?

"My Lord."

Daemon looked up. Phantomon was hovering about ten feet away. "What is it, Phantomon?"

"My Lord Daemon…" Phantomon bowed. "There is something you should see."

He showed Daemon a small portal that looked straight through the wall, into the grand hall. Two large Digimon and two slightly smaller ones were striding/flying the room carefully, their partners amongst them. Daemon grinned slightly as he recognized three of them: the DNA Digimon Sylphymon and Shakkoumon, and the Mega DNA form, Imperialdramon Fighter Mode. The other small one was an angel, and nothing but a child!

Daemon could feel the adrenaline rush through his veins. This was it! This was what he'd been waiting for, almost four years now! The ultimate fight! A true battle between the DigiDestined and himself! Once again, he could savor the destruction of his enemies, and he _knew_ he would be victorious!

"Come!" he called to Phantomon and DemiDevimon. "It is time we end this, once and for all!"

~ * ~ * ~

The DigiDestined and their partners moved cautiously through the amazingly huge hall. Kari and T.K. were struggling to remember which to it was to their frozen future selves. But there were hundreds of doors, all so huge. It was impossible.

"Well then." Yolei sighed. "Let's just try each one until we find the right door."

The others shrugged. There was nothing else to do. But before they could even reach the first in the great like of massive doors, a red ball of energy collided with the side of Imperialdramon's head.

The large Digimon staggered but righted himself. "It's Daemon!" Ken shouted, pointing.

The Demon Digimon hovered fifty feet above them, laughing to himself. Nothing had to be said between them. It was time to fight.

"Static Force!"

"Kachina Bomb!"

"Imperial Wave!"

Daemon dodged the first wave, and sent a red fireball flying at Imperialdramon. While he was distracted, Sylphymon managed to get a good hit in from behind.

"Why you…" he growled. "Take this! Hell's Fire!"

The red ball of energy missed Sylphymon by half an inch and crashed into a wall, creating a large hole into the next room. "That was too close for comfort." muttered the DNA Digimon.

"Go get'em!" DemiDevimon shouted from the wall.

"They are on the run." insisted Phantomon, swinging his chain towards Sylphymon. "Allow us to give you some help…"

"I don't think so."

A single hand appeared in front of Phantomon's face. The crescent moon tattoo was directly between the eyes. Holymon gave him a glare. "Buh-bye." she muttered. "Crescent Beam!"

With a flash of lilac light, Phantomon disappeared. Carie cheered. "Yeah, Holymon!"

The young Digimon turned to DemiDevimon. "Wanna taste, bat?"

"No no!" the little Digimon began flying as fast as he could for the exit. "I just hang out here!"

"Coward!" shouted Daemon. Some how, he managed to break free and slammed DemiDevimon into the wall, destroying him instantly.

With a glare, he turned back towards the battle. "Now for you, young one!" he raged. "Try this…Claws of Blood!"

He slashed on of his black claws at Holymon. Fast blades of crimson red flew out towards her. Before she could react, the blade sliced at Holymon's arms and body. She fell to the ground with a cry, turning back into her Rookie form as she did.

"Gatamon!" the part of Sylphymon that was Gatomon cried.

Carie scrambled forward and lifted her partner from the ground. "Gatamon…" she whispered. "Is you okay?"

"Carie, it's not safe!" Kari ran over and scooped the little girl up with her partner, returning to the others. "Don't worry now. She'll be fine."

Daemon growled. This would be harder than he thought. But he had one trick up his sleeve that they'd never seen before. Thirteen years trapped in the Dark Ocean had paid off.

"Now, my young opponents." he grinned. "We end this here and now…"

As he spoke, he grew and grew to a huge size. The DigiDestined realized why the hall was so big as they gazed up and up at the towering figure, three times the size of Imperialdramon.

"Oh mama…" Davis whispered.

"We're in trouble." Yolei gulped.

Daemon gave one giant hand a huge swipe, and threw Shakkoumon to the ground. Sylphymon struggled to right her-/himself. Imperialdramon staggered to his feet. "Ready to quit?" Daemon laughed. "If you give up now, I may let you live."

"N-N-Never…" growled Shakkoumon.

"We fight to the end!" insisted Imperialdramon.

"Fine then." Daemon shrugged, then began sweeping all his energy into one giant attack. "Maybe destroying both you _and_ your precious little friends will be worth the fight."

The attack got as big in relative as Tera Force was to WarGreymon, or Tera Destroyer to BlackWarGreymon. Then Ken shouted the one thing on everyone's mind. "RUN FOR IT!"

He fired the attack. The DigiDestined scrambled as fast as they could out of the way. The Digimon had a chance to withstand it. They didn't.

Kari, carrying her future daughter in her arms, looked up as the fireball came apon them. There was no way she could make it out. But Carie…

"T.K.!" she shouted wildly. The boy looked back. "CATCH!"

With all her might, Kari threw Carie forward, into T.K.'s arms. The boy didn't understand exactly what she was doing, but he caught the small girl with a disgruntled _oomph_ and hit the ground from the force.

The giant red ball of energy zipped past, missing T.K. and Carie by a centimeter. Ken and Yolei managed to jump out of the way just in the nick of time, while Davis and Cody (who had been closer than the others, but to the other side) slid to a stop to watch it blow past.

Three Digimon flew in its wake. Six hit the ground.

It was at about this time that T.K. realized what Kari had done. "Oh my god…"

He shot his head up wildly, looking for her. Time seamed to come to a standstill when he spotted the limp form, lying singed on the ground a hundred feet away, he ran and begged the higher power for it not to be true. But it was.

Kari lay on the ground, burnt and still. Yolei had seen her too, and was running over with Ken at her side. T.K. put a hand on her forehead. It was hot, but it didn't feel alive. He put two fingers to her neck. Then he tried again. And again. Nothing.

Finally, he cupped both hands around one ear and put it to her chest. Nothing. No sound. No breathing. No heartbeat.

"No…" he whispered. "Kari, no…No!"

Yolei could see his tears, and she knew what they meant. "Oh no…" she whispered, putting her hands over her mouth. "No…She can't be…She isn't really…"

She turned away. A hushed silence fell over the room. No one moved, except for Daemon, who seamed to be enjoying this.

T.K. lifted Kari's body into his lap and caressed it gently. What would happen now? To the future? To them? To Carie? How in the world, if they made it out of this, were they ever gonna explain it to her brother?

Carie crawled to Kari's other side. She didn't understand what was going on, but she knew when the bad thing looked that please, and the old people looked so upset, something was really wrong.

She shook Kari's body. "Kari-mama?" she asked. No answer. She shook harder. "Kari-mama! Wake up!"

T.K. watched the little girl try to wake her. He knew it was no use, but you try telling that to a six year old. He himself could hardly believe it. He wiped some tears onto his sleeve.

"Oh, little papa." Daemon chuckled, bringing a red fireball into hand. "Missing your mama already? I'll be happy to let you join her…"

Something in T.K. told him he couldn't run, and Carie wasn't about to leave him or Kari there. Carie had slowly come to realization that her Kari-mama was hurt. Bad. And when people are hurt bad, they go away. She didn't want her to go away. She held the larger hand. "Kari-mama…Kari-mama…" she whispered, tears beginning to form in her eyes.

Daemon threw the ball of fire at the small group. T.K. braced himself for the death blow. Carie closed her eyes. "KARI-MAMA!" she screamed loudly, trying to wake her.

Once again, Carie's scream activated a blast of white light. But this time it came not from the small white device clipped to her belt loop, but rather from one of her tears. It blasted outward, and no one could see for quite a while. But from that light stepped a figure.

They couldn't see it properly, but using a tall staff, she knocked away the Hell's Fire easily. Daemon drew back from the light, shielding his eyes in pain. "What…What's happening?!"

"Daemon." said the creature, and her voice was beautiful. It was defiantly female, and the voice was deep and rich, flowing back and forth like a wave of water. "You have disrupted the balance of this world for the last time."

"Why you…" Daemon lunged forward. "I'll get you!!"

The creature lifted her staff into the air. "Forces of Light and Darkness, answer my call! Eliminate that which disturbs the delicate balance between the two!"

Daemon froze. He couldn't move, not an inch, not a muscle. The figure lunged forward. "Now…Leave these world in peace!" she cried, and plunged the staff into Daemon's back.

Again, the light blasted outward, but it had quite a different effect this time. Daemon vanished into dust. But the light didn't go as well. The light spread everywhere and seamed to cover everything.

In the room through the hole in the wall, a pink crystal cracked down the middle. The figure inside dropped down. She hesitated a bit, unsure of what was happening, but then she knew. She was free. And she knew how to free her friends, family and loved ones.

T.K. uncovered his eyes. Carie looked up at him, then around them. The walls seamed to be made of solid light. But they were the only things that moved. Yolei, Cody, Ken, Davis and their partners were frozen still. Even the air was still as death, nothing moved but them.

"What happened?" T.K. gasped. "Everything's frozen…"

"Don't worry." the creature was standing before them. "Time has frozen at my command. I wish to talk to you. To answer any questions you have."

She looked rather like Angewomon, but her hair was pure white and reached the floor. Her robes were silver, and instead of a helmet, her eyes were blue and she wore a silver tiara, set with gold stars. Her staff was as tall as she was, made of pure silver and toped with both a golden sun and a white-silver moon.

Carie and T.K. looked up in amazement. "Big pretty thing?" Carie asked innocently. "What your name?"

The creature smiled. "I…" she said slowly. "Am the Guardian of Space and Time, the Protector of the Balance, Cosmosmon."

"How did you do this?" T.K. asked, looking around. "Stop time, I mean."

"I have this power because of my position." she sighed. "But I am not able to break through easily. I can only be summoned in the time of greatest need. I am, if you wish, one of the Ultimate Lights of the Digital World."

T.K. shook his head, trying to work everything out. "So then…how did you get here?"

"It was Carie." Cosmosmon motioned to the little girl, who beamed with pride. "Her innocence and the desire to help the ones she loves broke the barrier of space time and brought me here.

"Now." she set her staff to the side. "What about the last questions of your future past?"

T.K. worked that part out in his head for a moment, then looked back up. "Just…everything." he finally sighed. "Why send Carie? Why not one of the older children, or a brother or sister? And why did Daemon freeze them like that anyway? Why not just kill them?"

Cosmosmon gave a slight smile. "Daemon imprisoned you future selves because he was vain." she said. "He thought he could keep you there forever as trophies of his work. But he never expected something like the younger yous to come along.

"But as the matter of Carie…The darkness started to rise when she was two, so she remembered everything. But the older DigiDestined had not yet fully decided, and Yolei and Ken had decided to wait on their little bundle of joy…So when Tai was the only one left, he knew he had to send his niece, who he had protected for two years, to your time for help or safe keeping."

She smiled again. "Does that clear everything up?"

T.K. nodded. Carie turned to Kari's body, still cradled in T.K.'s arms. Then she looked back up at Cosmosmon. "You make Kari-mama better?" she asked.

Cosmosmon once again gave a warm smile, but it seamed a little dark. "I'm afraid I can't do it on my own…" she muttered. "But with your help, T.K…"

"_My_ help?" T.K. asked. "What can I do?"

Cosmosmon spread her arms out. Flowers appeared, huge climbing vines with giant white flowers so wide that even Cosmosmon had to hold one in both her hands. She plucked one off the vine and held it out. "This is a Flower of Light." she explained. "They grow only in the land of time, and appear when time stops. Its nectar can revive a person even from death.

"But…" she left off for a moment. "It must be completely drunk to take affect. But when it begins time will continue, and the flower will vanish."

T.K.'s head drooped. "Then…what can we do?"

Carie pulled on his arm. "T.K.-papa! Make Kari-mama all better!" she insisted.

"How?!" T.K. looked up at Cosmosmon. "If it'll disappear before complete, how can we save Kari?"

Cosmosmon simply smiled. Before T.K. knew what was happening, she had him by the back of the head. She lifted the flower to _his_ lips and poured the sweet nectar inside. In surprise, he blocked the back of his mouth with his tongue, stopping it from sliding down his throat.

Cosmosmon drew back, and T.K. realized what she meant. If the flower disappeared with the nectar inside, it was all lost. But if he…

Looking at Kari's body, he took a deep breath through his nose. Carefully tipping her head back, opened her mouth slightly, and pressed his lips to hers. As he did, he allowed the nectar into her mouth, and leaning back as she was, it ran down her throat.

Cosmosmon vanished and the light cleared. The others started moving again as T.K. pulled away, praying it had worked.

Kari groaned and stirred a bit. Her eyes opened. "T…K…?" she asked groggily. After a moment, she sat up. "What the…What happened?!? Where's Daemon!?!"

"Kari-mama!" Carie threw herself at the older girl and gave her a giant hug. "You all better now!"

The others stopped, looking around in wonder. "What just happened?" Davis asked. "Did we miss something?"

T.K. smiled. He was too tired to answer. He just helped Kari up and muttered. "Let's go home."

A stone fell down the pile of rubble from the hole in the wall. Kari looked back. "Who's that?"

A woman with shoulder-length brown hair and tired brown eyes stood just out of the hole. Carie looked up, and her face spread into a grin. "Mommy!" she cried, running from the others and towards the woman.

Kari Takaishai took in a small gasp. "Carie…?" she whispered, then started running towards her daughter. "Carie! Oh, Carie!"

"Mommy!" the little girl ran into her mother's arms.

The woman dropped to her knees and caressed her daughter lovingly, stroking her hair. "Carie…Oh, my baby…Thank goodness you're safe…" she whispered. "My baby… My beautiful sweet baby girl…"

Behind her appeared a young man, the one in the golden crystal. T.K.'s eyes widened as his future self stepped down with his wife, then looked up at the kids. "Thank you." he whispered.

"No…Problem…" T.K. muttered.

More adults began appearing, but about that time Cosmosmon's voice came through, loud and clear: "It is time for you to go home."

The DigiDestined kids watched as their future selves pulled way into the light. Kari bid Carie a silent goodbye, wishing they didn't have to leave.

"Kari-mama!" Carie called to her, waving wildly. "I love you! Bye-bye!"

Kari smiled, then began waving as well. "Goodbye!" she called, and soon they all were shouting it. "Goodbye! Good luck! Goodbye!"

With a final flash, the adults disappeared. They found themselves in a lush green Digital World field, back in their time, back in their home.


	9. Epilouge: Ten Years Later

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This is the final ending of my favorite story. Here, I want to thank all those reviews who stuck with me through this whole thing.

I've got a few things to some speacial reviewers, and a little question for all of you. It's at the bottom.

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Mysterious Child

Epilogue: Ten Years Later

Pacing nervously about the waiting room, muttering to himself and the others, T.K. was your classic nervous father, minus the cigarette. He hadn't sat down since the doctors had shooed him away from Kari's side and two and a half hours before.

"T.K., calm down!" Matt said for the twentieth time. It was interesting how many had come to sit and wait nervously in the waiting room. With them now were Ken and Yolei, who had married only half a year before, Matt and Sora, who were now engaged. Davis, Cody, Izzy, and Tai. Joe was on emergency duty somewhere else in the hospital, there'd been a fire earlier that evening, while Mimi was half-way across the globe at this moment, waiting for details. Gatomon and Patamon were not there either. They were at home at the moment, expecting a liter of their own any day now.

"How can I calm down?" T.K. asked, rounding his pace again. "They've been in there over two hours, how long is this gonna take?"

"Relax, bud." Davis told him, standing and gripping his friend by the shoulder. "You know they'll both make it out."

T.K. smiled. Not once since returning to their own time had either he or Kari ever forgotten their visitor from the future, not once. But he was still nervous. Kari had always been such a delicate, gentle creature, he had no idea how she'd take this.

He took a deep breath. "You're right." he sighed. "But still…how long?"

No sooner were those words out of his mouth than the door to the room opened. The whole group rose to their feet as a nurse stepped out. She was smiling gently. "Mama and baby are doing just fine." she said in a rather perky high-pitched voice. "It's an absolutely beautiful little girl."

T.K. stepped forward. "Can we…?" he left off, but the nurse knew what he meant. She stepped back from the door. T.K., grinning broadly, hurried inside, the others at his heels. 

Kari sat up-right in the adjustable bed, a small bundle of soft pink cloth cradled in her arms. Her husband kissed her gently on the cheek. "How's my Kari-mama?" he cooed in her ear.

Kari smiled. 'Kari-mama' had always been T.K.'s sweet pet name for her, since they started dating, while she called him 'T.K.-papa' just like Carie had. T.K. also smiled as she kissed him back, then he gazed lovingly into the tiny bundle of cloth as the others gathered round to see.

A little girl was nestled inside, arms crossed in front of her, all clean and nice and warm, fast asleep. There was a tiny bit of peach-fuzz-like brown hair at the top of her new-born head.

"She's beautiful, you two." Yolei whispered in a breath. They were all afraid to wake the dear thing.

"Just like her mother." T.K. said, and kissed his wife again on the forehead.

There was a small click as a nurse came in, holding a clipboard. "Excuse me." she said politely. "I don't mean to interrupt, but there is the small problem of what to name her…"

Kari and T.K. locked eyes for a moment, then simultaneously said "Carie."

The nurse seamed surprised at their joint reaction. "Excuse me?" she asked.

"Carie." this time, only T.K. spoke. "Her name is Carie."

The nurse, still taken aback, wrote the name down on the birth certificate. "I see then… Carie Takaishai…" she muttered, then handed him the birth certificate.

T.K. grinned proudly and read it out loud. "Baby Girl. Name: Carie Takaishai. Born to Takeru and Kari Takaishai. April 18, 2014."

The nurse left. Her feet stirred up a bit of dust hanging in the room, making Davis sneeze. He tried to hold it in, but it fought its way out with an "Ah-choo!"

It wasn't very loud, he'd managed to contain it a bit, but it did wake the tiny girl in the bundle, who began to cry loudly. "Davis!" Tai snapped.

"I didn't mean too…" Davis muttered sheepishly.

Carie cried in a voice surprising of a newborn. "There there now." Kari soothed, rocking her back and forth gently. "It's okay."

After a few minutes of this, she clamed down, but she didn't go back to sleep. She looked around curiously, with those big blue eyes, at the many people gathered around, smiling at her. She locked eyes with one, a man with blonde hair, and seamed to recognize him instantly. She stretched her tiny arms for him, giggling and clearly asking to be held.

T.K. was amazed at his baby daughter's reaction to him. What was he supposed to do? Kari, sensing T.K.'s awkwardness, held the child out to him. "Go on." she urged. "Take her. Just be gentle."

T.K. took the bundle and cradled her in his arms. "Like this?" he asked.

Kari nodded. Carie was laughing and laughing, she just loved being held by her daddy. T.K., supporting the figure in one arm, tickled her under the chin. "Hi Carie." he whispered. "Hi there…" a wave of excitement flowed through him, along with the pride. He looked up and locked eyes with Kari. "I'm a daddy."

Kari smiled wider and nodded. T.K. talked to Carie a while longer, then gave her back to her mother. The others had their chance to coo and play with the little girl. Later, Joe entered. The fire disaster had calmed down, and he was able to give the new parents his congratulations. Around that time, Carie put her head against her mama's chest and fell asleep again, as most newborns do.

An hour and a half later, the nurse came back. "I'm sorry, sir." she said. "But visiting time is over. They need to rest now."

The group nodded and left slowly. T.K. remained by Kari's side, just for a moment. He gave her one last kiss. "I love you, Kari-mama." he whispered sweetly.

"I love you too, T.K.-papa." she whispered sleepily. After looking at his daughter just one more time, T.K. left the room, promising to be back the next morning.

Another nurse came, and tried to take Carie out of Kari's arms so the mother could rest. But Kari refused. "Just a little longer." she said. "Just a bit more time…"

Finally, the nurse gave in and left the two alone. Kari lay back against the adjusted bed, hold her precious daughter close.

She remembered so well the first time she'd met that little girl. The little brown-haired six year old, smiling up at a two bewildered teenagers. _"Silly mommy."_ she'd chastised her, hugging her tightly. _"You look like Picture-mommy. You must be mommy."_

She remembered cuddling up with her in bed when she had a nightmare. How awkward T.K.'d been at suddenly becoming a father. Gatamon's sudden arrival. The kidnapping. Going to the future to save her. Defeating Daemon. And saying goodbye for the last time.

When she closed her eyes, she could still see the sweet little girl's face, smiling at her. She could feel her body, a bit larger than the one in her arms, cuddled up against her. She could hear her voice, light and happy, calling her…_"Kari-mama…Kari-mama…"_

"Kari-mama."

Kari's eyes snapped open. Standing by her bed was a pretty young girl of 16. She had brown hair, messy like T.K.'s, and crystal blue eyes. She was wearing a short-sleeved white button-up shirt, and faded blue cut-off jean shorts. She was barefoot and smiling at her sheepishly.

Kari was taken aback. "C-Carie?" she gasped. "Is it really…?"

The girl smiled. "Well?" she said in perfect diction. "Am I everything you'd want in a daughter?"

Kari smiled. "Carie…You're beautiful." she sighed. "But what are you doing here? There's not more trouble, is there? Because if there is…"

But the teenager laughed. "No, no." she said. "I just…came back on my own." She sat on the edge of the bed. "It's my sixteenth birthday." she explained. "And I just wanted to see my Kari-mama again."

Kari smiled sleepily. The figure in the buddle yawned a wide yawn and snuggled up against her mama for warmth. Carie took in a small gasp and leaned forward to see the baby better. "Is that…?" she whispered. Kari nodded. "I don't believe it…" Carie whispered again. "It's me…"

"Here." Kari was whispering as well, trying not to wake the baby. She held the pink bundle out to the teenager. "Go on now…You can hold her."

"What?!" Carie gasped. "M-Me…?"

"Go on." Kari handed her the little girl. "Just be sure not to wake her."

Carie looked at the baby in her arms. A slightly reminiscing look passed over her face. "The hardships will soon start." she whispered, then looked up at Kari. "But we'll make it through…together, right?"

Kari smiled gently as she took the baby back. "Of course." she assured. "Together."

Carie smiled. There was a sound outside. The nurse was coming back to put the baby Carie to bed. "Guess I better go." the teenager whispered. She headed for the open window, sat on the sill, and swung one leg out.

"Carie?" Kari asked. She turned back. "How in the world did you get up here? This is the fourth floor…?!"

A strange head popped up. It was like a big, purple tiger with white wings. Kari nearly jumped a foot. "Who the…is that…?!"

"Not Gatamon." Carie grinned. "He's a champion named Mezaramon. I borrowed him from my little brother."

Kari nodded sleepily and put her head back against the pillow. But then she turned back. "Carie…Did you say 'brother'?"

The only answer she got was the wind blowing through the open window.

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First of all, a few thanks to each of the following reviewers.

DracoTK – Muchos Grasias, Mi Amigo. Of course there is more?

Mrs. Videl Son – (in response both to the review and e-mail) Here ya go!

Moonfairy2000 – Glad I could help with your mood.

Hyper Shark – Chill! I got it out!

Akino Ame-Great to meet another Moonie! We gotta chat sometime.

Okay now, here's the question: I've got some chicken-scratch ideas for a sequel to this, concerning the boy I've named Hikaru, trying to help his sister from fading in and out of reality. Should I or shouldn't I? Tell me in the reviews, please!


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